Saddleworth footpath saga approaches end after objection withdrawn

THE LONG-RUNNING saga over a Saddleworth footpath is a big step closer to ending after an objection to a claim by ramblers was withdrawn.

Quarrels over the area of Dobcross, close to Newbank Garden Centre, have been ongoing for a year.

Flooding on Boxing Day in 2015 damaged the footbridge over the River Tame close to the Newbank Garden Centre and was closed on safety grounds.

After concerns from the community, villagers and councillors lodged a claim for the riverside path, with help from the Ramblers Association, the following December.

After a period of inaction, a new claim was started in 2019, which was held up by bureaucracy and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Newbank, which owns the land either side of the bridge, lodged an objection, asking for minor diversions to move the path from the car park to alongside the river.

But now that has been withdrawn, a modification order under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it a formal path, can be confirmed.

Now Oldham Council will decide on what action to take regarding the collapsed footbridge.

John Walton, footpaths secretary in the Oldham Group of the Ramblers’ Association and a tireless advocate for Saddleworth’s walking rights for four decades, detailed some of the battles he has faced.

He said: “I presented a bulky folder to the Rights of Way Officer the first week in January 2020.

“She came back saying you cannot have a public footpath over a private bridge! Utter tosh or stronger words.

“A week later, I presented her with a modified claim with examples of 10 public footpaths over canal bridges which I had found on the Huddersfield and Rochdale Canals.

“The claim was presented at a rights of way forum meeting with about 12 other path users. The next day, the folder arrived at my house through the post with a comment from her saying that the privacy and protection data of the claimants had been breached.

“I then wrote to the Secretary of State requesting guidance on how to proceed from here. It came back from Bristol saying that as my claim did not have a technical refusal there was nothing they could do.

“Then Covid-19 kicked in and again the claim was paused. In July 2021, a new ROW Officer came on the scene and one of the first projects he took on board was my January 2020 Dobcross claim, which had not changed.

“In May 2023, the objection was raised by Newbank. There were a number of meetings on site to discuss things like the car park barriers, but Newbank would not fund these low-level barriers.”

But as frustration built, word came through the objection had been withdrawn – meaning the path can be formally claimed and declared.

Now work is ongoing towards replacing the footbridge, with Oldham’s Council’s team believed to have taken the scheme on.

And it is understood the structure, first installed and paid for by the former Greater Manchester County Council in 1980, is likely to be renewed in the next two years.