The ‘Clip CLOP’ Appeal – RESULT!

NOVEMBER 2025

Monday 3rd Nov could be a date that lives long in local memory, after it was today confirmed that the inspector has decided the recent public inquiry in our favour.

Needless to say thanks are due to so many many people who have assisted in this long and detailed process, and full details will be included in a formal communication that will shortly be sent by email to all participants/supportive interested parties. However, it is fair to say that without the basic faith/financial support of Stoke upon Tern and Hodnet Parish Councils, plus funding from the ClipCLOP appeal and the British Horse Society we would not have been able to use our excellent rights of way consultant – Mr Robin Carr, and without him we would have been most unlikely to properly make our case.

NEXT? This does not mean that the public can legally use the route just yet, as Shropshire Council will need to formally publish the final order recognising the route first – and there is the possibility of legal action by the landowners who might wish to challenge the result (on a claimed point of law or process), which could delay matters.

Further news will follow in due course, but in the meantime let’s salute all those who have helped get us to this point!

A copy of the order decision report can be downloaded HERE

OCTOBER 2025

As planned, the public inquiry took place in September.

Despite the dates being known for months, on the opening day the inquiry was told that the opposition land owners’ two principal witnesses (Mr Hollins and Lord Newborough) were on holiday and ‘not available’!

After a bit of an ultimatum initiated by the order supporter’s representative, Robin Carr, it was agreed they would appear by internet video call on the day after the formally scheduled 3 days for the inquiry, i.e. on the Friday. This they did, although it appeared to many that Lord Newborough really did not want to be there.

In a further delay to proceedings, the opposition’s barristers asked for closing statements to be submitted later (online), and after a discussion a date of 6th October was agreed for that.

Now all the evidence has been submitted we await the result of the inspector’s deliberations.

AUGUST 2025

After a nearly 10 year legal process to try and get the route (shown below) added to the legal map of Shropshire’s bridleways, the Planning Inspectorate are set to begin their formal Public Inquiry into this matter at 10.00 on September 9th 2025.

It is being held over 3 days at the Festival Drayton Centre, Market Drayton, and those with an interest in the outcome may wish to attend to hear all, or just part, of the competing claims about the nature and past use of this route by the public over many, many years.

The purpose of the inquiry will be to hear/test evidence supporting the making of the order to add the route (made by Shropshire Council in August 2022), but against which the opponents (landowners) appealed.

The outcome will not be announced until sometime after the inquiry concludes. We hope we have a compelling case, but if we lose, that’s it. If the opponents lose they may still have limited grounds for appeal to the High Court – and one result of that could be an order to re-run the inquiry !

Whilst it’s too late for any further evidence to be submitted, it’s not too late to lend your suppport by, like many others, helping to fund the final costs of the inquiry process (still uncertain – but we are working with an estimate of up to £10,000!). You can do so by making a donation to the Clip CLOP appeal fund – see below, and we hope you’ll consider doing so, or if you’ve already done so making a further contribution. Any amount welcome, as they all start to make big difference if done by many!

The Clip CLOP* appeal is being jointly run by the Hodnet and Stoke upon Tern Footpath Groups to help finance professional representation at a Public Inquiry (PI) into a claimed Public Right of Way (PROW) between the two villages.

The claimed route (until blocked by new landowners) had been used for many decades by people living in Ollerton and Peplow, as well as others from further afield, and had been used on foot, by horse or by bike. See ‘more information’ below for full details.

If we can successfully make our case at the PI, local residents and the wider public will obtain permanent legal access to a safe/traffic free route between the two villages. It will also open up connections between existing nearby PROW, enabling longer rides/walks in the local area.

Please help us to fight for your future right to use this route

*The appeal’s name alludes to the use of the route by Bicycles (i.e. bike ‘clips’) and Horses (i.e. ‘clop’ of horses hooves) – as we hope to have the route confirmed as a public bridleway, i.e legal use by horse or bicycle riders as well as those on foot.

THE KEY WAY YOU CAN NOW HELP

Is by making an (anonymous) donation, using the BACS details below, to help fund representation of our case.

If you wish to get in touch with a member of the Clip CLOP team, please email rich.roamin@gmail.com or search for Hodnet Footpath Group on Facebook.

Thank you.

DONATIONS

If you’d like to donate using BACS, please use the bank details below and use the word Appeal as the reference. If you’d like to use other methods, please get in touch with Steve Alden (Treasurer) at stevenalden53@yahoo.com

Account Name: Hodnet Footpath Group

Bank: NatWest

Sort Code: 01-05-48

Account No: 40196267

MORE INFORMATION

Route Map: The claimed route crosses the River Tern on the only bridge for some miles in either direction, and runs between Ollerton Lodge and Peplow Chapel. Part of it parallels an existing path, FP9, that terminates at no particular destination and is, for all intents and purposes, unused.

History: For a long time people used an established track between Ollerton Lodge and Peplow Chapel to cross the River Tern – and in doing so access each others communities or services within them. Even though another similar route was partially claimed as a footpath (shown as FP9 on the map), and thus legally recorded when the first official PROW maps were drawn up in the 1950’s, the route the subject of this campaign was not – even though it was widely recognised at the time to be in use. As such, its continued use by the public relied upon the tolerance/goodwill of the respective landowners of Ollerton Park and Peplow Hall (now in separate ownership, but in the past all owned by Peplow Hall).

Action: Worried that expected changes to land ownership at each end of the claimed route might jeopardise future use, a group of residents got together in 2015 to start to collect evidence of past use and submit a claim to Shropshire Council (SC) to have the route formally recognised via a Definitive Map Modification Order (DMMO) – i.e. amending the official public rights of way map to show it. This work was later taken over by Stoke upon Tern Parish Council, and endorsed by Hodnet Parish Council (the route spans two parishes), with the claim formally submitted in 2016.

Nothing happened for a year or so (other than the new landowners erecting gates and challenging/preventing use), but SC eventually declined to make the requested order – largely on grounds of insufficient submitted/discovered evidence. An expanded working group was then established by Stoke upon Tern PC, which led to a formal appeal being made: with large amounts of extra evidence obtained (past user statements and historical research) and submitted – with user statements being a key item of evidence.

After lengthy consideration, the Planning Inspectorate upheld the appeal in late 2021, and SC were instructed to issue a DMMO, making the route official, by August 2022. The landowners involved exercised their right to appeal the order, resulting in a Public Inquiry (PI) being ordered. ‘Seed’ money to finance the required PI work has been provided by Stoke upon Tern PC, with matching funding from Hodnet Parish Council. However, with final costs uncertain we do need to raise a separate fighting fund – hence the Clip CLOP appeal.

Note. Funds raised by this campaign will be directly applied to cover necessary PI costs/expenses; but in the unlikely event that the funds raised are not fully required, any balance will be donated to other bodies engaged in similar work, e.g. The Ramblers or the British Horse or Open Spaces societies.

If you’ve read this far, thank you – and if it has inspired you to share our message and/or contribute to our campaign, thank you very much.