The gates to the Snowies' Boquhan estate in Stirlingshire

The Ramblers have welcomed a landmark court victory in a long-running access battle with a Scottish millionaire.

Waste-disposal magnate Euan Snowie has dropped his appeal against a ruling opening up large parts of his Boquhan estate in Stirlingshire. Ramblers Scotland and Stirling Council, which jointly brought the case, were awarded costs.

The appeal was due to be heard yesterday and today at the Court of Session in Edinburgh but, following legal argument, Euan Snowie and his wife Claire abandoned the appeal.

The Snowies originally tried to exempt 16ha (40 acres) of the estate, near Kippen, from public access under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, saying his family needed privacy. The case followed that of bus millionaire Ann Gloag who successfully banned the public from part of her Kinfauns Castle estate in Perthshire.

The Snowies locked the gates to their estate in 2005, despite the fact the route had been used by local residents for years. Stirling Council served a notice to have the gate reopened and Mr Snowie appealed this. In the meantime he also applied for his 28ha (70-acre) estate excluded from access provisions of the act. He later reduced this to a smaller area covering 16ha.

Sheriff Andrew Cubie, sitting at Stirling Sheriff Court in June 2008, ruled in favour of the council and the Ramblers, allowing just 5ha (12¾ acres) to be closed to the public. Mr Snowie’s legal representatives appealed Sheriff Cubie’s decision, an appeal that was withdrawn yesterday in Edinburgh.

Ramblers Scotland convenor Dennis Canavan: 'landmark decision'

Dennis Canavan, convener of Ramblers Scotland said: “I welcome the abandonment of the appeal and I think that Mr Snowie and his legal advisers have come to the right decision.

“Sheriff Andrew Cubie’s judgement at Stirling Sheriff Court will now be seen as a landmark decision in the interpretation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.  This gives Mr Snowie and his family a reasonable degree of privacy, while confirming the right of access to the rest of the estate.”

The award of costs to the Ramblers will come as a relief to the organisation, which made staff redundant last year in the wake of falling revenue as the recession hit subscriptions and other sources of income.