Princess's brother-in-law opposes path application

The Princess of Wales's brother-in-law has told a planning inquiry his family home needs a higher level of security in a row over part of its drive being designated a public footpath.

Catherine's sister Pippa moved with her husband James Matthews to Barton Court in Kintbury, West Berkshire, in autumn 2022.

He installed an electric security gate in September 2022, which prompted the West Berkshire Ramblers group to apply to recognise a public footpath on the land in January 2023.

West Berkshire Council found that the order route was "reasonably alleged to exist as a public right of way" but Matthews has objected.

He told the inquiry the route is rarely used and neighbours raised no objections when the gate was installed.

He said nothing in the conveyancing process alerted him to any public use of the drive when he purchased the property in August 2022.

"There are implications for my family, due to their high public profile, which means there is a need for a higher level of security than would otherwise be the case if the circumstances were different," he told the inquiry at the Kintbury Coronation Hall in Hungerford.

"When the gate was put in, no one from the parish council or the village came to speak with us, or contacted us, about the gate to say that there was any problem with it being there.

"In the period after the footpath application, unfortunately there has been a continued need to enhance security and the gates at Station Road have therefore been upgraded in the summer of 2025 and kept closed."

West Berkshire District Council said in a statement to the inquiry that the application is based on the legal principle that a public footpath can be "deemed to exist" if it has been used by the public for an "uninterrupted period of 20 years, without force, secrecy or permission".

Alternatively, it said, it can also be designated "if evidence infers that a public footpath has been dedicated by a landowner at some point in the past and that dedication has then been accepted by the public (i.e. by being used by the public)".

David Hill, who was the estate manager for Barton Court between 2016 and 2022, told the inquiry he does not recall regularly encountering people on the drive who were being told not to be there.

He said: "There was no consistent pattern of people coming and going.

"Occasionally I would come across someone who appeared to be lost or unaware that they should not be there. It's hard to estimate but probably one person every two to three months although sometimes not as often as that."

The inquiry continues.