Hazlemere Parish Council is ‘in talks’ with a local landowner and Buckinghamshire Council to create a new village footpath amid fears that the informal route will be permanently cut off after over 25 years of use.

The land at Grange Farm in Hazlemere is owned by Buckinghamshire Council but was taken over by a new tenant earlier this year who is planning to fence the area for livestock grazing.

Changes to the plot stoked fears among parish councillors that locals would no longer have access to informal but popular footpath routes on the edge of the site – with Cllr Caroline Oliver even suggesting the fences could be at risk of damage, with “feelings running high” among villagers.

The council proposed the creation of a “permissive footpath”, running from Hazlemere Recreation Ground, along the eastern edge of Grange Farm and joining with an existing path next to Cedar Park School back in March, as a way of managing concerns.

Cllr Oliver said the new path – which would be privately owned and created in coordination with the council and the current tenant – would have a raft of other benefits, too – providing a safe off-road link between south and north Hazlemere, a “sustainable walking route” into High Wycombe and easing pressure on open areas amid plans to build 400 new homes at Terriers Farm on Kingshill Road.

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And, five months on, the local authority is taking strides forward with the plans, telling residents on Wednesday, August 7, that they were engaging in talks with the owner of Grange Farm about “creating a new footpath around the edge of their fields”.

A spokesperson said: “This path will connect Hazlemere Recreation Ground with Widmer Fields, offering a beautiful and convenient route for our community to enjoy.”

They also said Buckinghamshire Council had “agreed to the project in principle”, marking a “significant step forward”, and added: “There are still many details to finalise before we can move ahead, but stay tuned for more information and get ready for some exciting developments!”

Bucks Council’s Rights of Way Improvement Plan 2020 to 2030 indicates that the creation of new paths across the county should ideally be integrated into “the public rights of way network” rather than through permissive path agreements.

It looks like an exception could be made in this case, however – with Cllr Oliver espousing the community benefit of dodging a “lengthy and contentious” planning application process and streamlining the validation of a public walkway that has been in use for “well over” a quarter of a century.