A SENIOR Ross-on-Wye councillor has demanded to know why no one ever seems to get prosecuted for blocking public paths and byways in the county, despite the apparently huge number of such cases.

Chairman of the county’s environment and sustainability scrutiny committee Cllr Louis Stark told colleagues this week that as far as he could tell, no one had been successfully taken to court over this in the last five years, despite “two and a half thousand” reported issues with the network.

“It does seem difficult to believe that in a whole county there has not been one case that’s justified legal action,” he said.

Cllr Roger Highfield said that for some landowners, “If they can if they can make that lane or footpath no longer usable to the public, they’ve increased the value of their land substantially.”

Cllr Justine Peberdy added that many passionate users of the network become activists, and you get guerrilla warfare when they feel things aren’t progressing.

“It would be helpful to show them steps are being taken,” she said.

Asked by Cllr Stark whether the council uses its enforcement powers enough, Cabinet member Cllr Dan Hurcomb said that he didn’t think so, adding: “We have one enforcement officer covering 2,100 miles, and we’re not perhaps as robust as we could be in following up inspections.”

But the council’s recently appointed principal rights of way officer Shona Butter said she “would have to disagree with that” as Herefordshire was comparable with other authorities in this regard.

The committee resolved to urge the Herefordshire authority to review all current enforcement practices and agree a co-ordinated and consistent approach to enforcement and to strengthen action against those who do not comply.