By Annie Stewart
COMBER residents are becoming increasingly frustrated at what they claim is Ards and North Down Council’s ‘dismissive attitude’ over a public right of way path.
Residents in the Ardnavalley housing development are objecting to the council’s decision to extinguish a right of way which connects the development to the Killinchy Road.
The homeowners had previously fought to get the path properly asserted in June 2019 after two years of confusion over who actually owned parts of the land. There were also other issues surrounding maintenance, and a resident along the right of way building a fence onto public land.
Then earlier this year, residents got a letter stating the council had voted to extinguish the right way without doing a public consultation.
Richard, an Ardnavalley resident, said the council has taken a ‘nuclear option’ of immediately moving to extinguishment.
He explained that a number of other options could have been explored first, such as creating a diversion of the public right of way which is what the residents feel is most appropriate.
“What we’re suggesting is a diversion, which will lead us back to where we all were before the obstructing fence was built, with everybody having the comfort of knowing there’s a path that cannot be changed,” he said.
“They could create another path six feet to the side of it and that would be an option that we would be open to.
“We’ve been met with a fairly combative response from the council but no one is actually answering our questions.”
Sean Wright said the way residents have been treated and dismissed by the council is unacceptable.
“We, along with our solicitor, met with council officials and their solicitor, and I explained to them about the importance of connectivity and how often the path was used,” he said.
“The council official then said she was ‘only here today to humour the people of Ardnavalley’. I told her that we don’t need humoured.
“There’s no sense of public service here, there’s no sense of listening to the public they serve ‘allegedly’.”
Sean said residents had been told by a councillor that prior to the vote to extinguish, they had been briefed that the people of Ardnavalley would not object to the extinguishment of the right of way.
“They can rescind their decision or consider other options, but haven’t so far. That just adds fuel to our suspicions there’s more to it.
“They are acting without accountability, they need to learn the definition of public service, need to act with accountability on the forefront of their mind, they’re not doing either.
“To even deny, the ratepayers and the sizeable enough representation of Ardnavalley, to deny us a voice and then when we exercise that voice, they dismiss it in a really combative manner. It’s really unacceptable for public servants, they are in the wrong job. That’s the bottom line.”
Another resident, Kim Scott, said she was delighted as a dog owner with the perk of a public right of way practically on her doorstep.
“As a dog owner, it was something really helpful when we were buying the house that we could walk the dog down it and right into the town,” she said.
“I had no understanding of any of these issues prior to this, and when I heard it was going to be extinguished my first question was well who said what to who because the residents have not been consulted on this?
“And that came as a real surprise to me that this was going ahead without any consultation with the residents and without an equality impact assessment. It’s seems completely bizarre and against their own legislation.
“There’s a public consultation at the minute in Millisle about a public right of way and I want to know what makes this so different that it’s not being treated the same?”
A council spokes said manhave ‘complied with its statutory obligations’.
“Ards and North Down Borough Council has complied with its statutory obligations relating to a public path extinguishment order under the Access to the Countryside (Northern Ireland) Order 1983,” he said.
“Pursuant to this Order, the matter is being submitted to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to be progressed.”
