Poohsticks Bridge, Ashdown Forest. Photo: David Brooker CC-BY-SA-2.0
Campaigners have vowed to fight on after a landowner was given permission for a riding area across a footpath leading to a bridge immortalised in a popular children’s novel.
Poohsticks Bridge in the Ashdown Forest was the setting for AA Milne’s character Winnie-the-Pooh’s game with Christopher Robin in which sticks were dropped into the brook below in The House at Pooh Corner.
It was officially opened after rebuilding by Christopher Robin Milne.
But owners of a riding arena at nearby Faircote Hall, Hartfield, East Sussex, have built a sandschool across the path without permission. The local authority, Wealden District Council, granted retrospective consent to Ben Van Praagh for the works, which are in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
The Open Spaces Society expressed its dismay, saying the decision should have been called in by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The society said the council has given planning consent but it is subject to the public footpath being lawfully diverted within two years. If it is not, the riding arena must be demolished.
Kate Ashbrook, OSS general secretary, said: ‘We are dismayed at this decision. The sandschool was built across the public footpath, illegally blocking it until East Sussex County Council took enforcement action.
“This is a popular route, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The applicants will have great difficulty in diverting this route as any application will receive widespread opposition.
“The council should not have endorsed this unlawful development. Instead it should have required the applicants to remove the offending sandschool and then apply for planning consent for a sandschool which respects the current route of the footpath and the natural beauty of the area.
“We shall fight this doggedly. The development is a blot on the landscape and severely interferes with people’s enjoyment of this important footpath.”
The Ramblers, East Sussex County Council and Hartfield Parish Council all opposed the development, but it was supported by riding groups, including the Riding for the Disabled Association.
