The Council is looking at the possibility of re-opening the entrance to the north-east corner of the Park near Mount Pleasant Drive and Wessex Way (see picture). This entrance was blocked by fencing in late 2001, but an opening was made in the fence shortly afterwards which remained open until a few months ago.
To get the entrance re-opened and to ensure that it remains open for ever, we have applied to have it dedicated as a right of way, by showing that it was in use for at least 20 years. Note: this corner of the Park is not covered by the Five Parks Act, which unfortunately prevents similar action being taken to restore entrances in other parts of the Park.
It may be of interest to study the accompanying plan, which shows the location of paths
visible on aerial photographs in both 1946 and 1962, before Wessex Way was built and before the tree cover became too dense to discern the routes of the paths.
Clearly, the fence blocks access to the park along all of these routes, but it is not our intention to apply for all of them to become dedicated footpaths. One of these paths (highlighted in yellow) appears to be the blocked path referred to above, and so the aerial photographs may be used as supporting evidence for our application to have that particular route dedicated.