For several years now, Pippa Middleton and her terribly moderately wealthy husband James Matthews have been at war with their local village and community. In 2022, they moved out of London and into a grand estate in Berkshire, close to Pippa’s parents. Soon after moving into Barton Court, Pippa and TMW James tried to shut down a common-use footpath on the edge of their 145-acre property. They put up locked gates and “private property” signs and the village has been fed up with Pippa and TMW James’ “arrogant, cruel and nouveau-riche” antics. And that was before Pippa had to sell her debt-ridden “investment property,” Bucklebury Farm, after trying and failing to make it into a revenue-generating local attraction. Anyway, the ramblers associations got involved, and the whole situation is now before the local Berkshire council. Well, there’s been some movement – the council will not base their decision on any “privacy concerns.” The council is solely looking into whether the footpath was common-use before the gauche Middletons got involved.
Pippa Middleton and her husband, James Matthews, have been told they cannot rely on privacy and security concerns to justify closing a footpath through their 145-acre estate. The couple, who bought Barton Court near Kintbury, Berkshire, for £15.5m in 2022, blocked access to a track known locally as Mill Lane shortly after moving in. Signs reading “Private: No Public Access” and “No Trespassing” were erected around the property, preventing walkers and dog owners from using the route.
More than 30 residents, supported by the Ramblers, applied to have the lane formally recognised as a public right of way, arguing it had been used uninterrupted for decades. West Berkshire Council ruled in favour of the application, prompting Mr Matthews to challenge the decision. The matter is now being heard at a six-day public inquiry.
On Wednesday, Ken Taylor, the government-appointed planning inspector overseeing the hearing, said questions of privacy and security were outside the scope of the inquiry. Instead, the case would turn on whether the public had used the route frequently enough over a 20-year period, from 2002 to 2022, to establish legal rights of access.
Paul Wilmshurst, a barrister representing Mr Matthews, argued that the route had not been used by a sufficient number of people to qualify as a public footpath. He told the inquiry: “It’s not a question of whether it’s a good or a bad thing. It works based on the history of the land, based on how people have used it. It has certainly not been used by a significant number of people from the village of Kintbury. It doesn’t lead anywhere particularly useful.”
Several residents spoke in support of maintaining access to the lane, describing it as a safe walking route into the village and an important recreational path. Samuel Robins, who has lived in Kintbury since childhood, said he had used the footpath for years without challenge. He told the inquiry: “It’s a calm and attractive walk. I’ve never been stopped or asked to turn around.”
Others argued that the route offered a safer alternative to a main road nearby, which does not have pavements.
Sophie Redmond, the programme manager for paths at the Ramblers, previously known as the Ramblers’ Association, said the lane had “been walked by the community for more than 20 years without interruption”, which she argued created a legal right of way. She added that blocked paths across Britain were limiting public access to nature and green spaces.
A spokesman for Mr Matthews and Ms Middleton, whose sister is the Princess of Wales, maintained that there had never been a public footpath on the land. They said: “For as long as records exist, there has never been a footpath/public right of way on the land currently under discussion. There are other clearly marked footpaths nearby. Contrary to media reports, the previous owners of the property from as far back as the 1970s did not allow public access to the land under discussion. It has always been private property.” Barton Court, on the banks of the River Kennet, was previously owned by Sir Terence Conran, the Habitat founder, who died in 2020.
I’ve been following this situation for years now, because of course I have, and it really feels like Pippa and TMW James’ spokesperson and lawyer are outright lying to the council? Like, the ramblers have been saying for years that this is a common-use and well-traveled footpath, and that in Sir Terence’s day, he was fine with people using the footpath whenever they wanted. There were even signs alongside the footpath to aid ramblers, and Pippa and James literally papered over those signs with their legal notices threatening people about “private property.” I hope the council hears from all of the, like, ramblers-historians who know the history and the laws around common-use paths.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
