[2017] EWHC 716 (Admin)
Case No: CO/421/2016
In the High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division, Planning Court February 2017
Full report

The Ramblers Association had applied for a footpath to be added to the definitive map of rights of way. At one point the footpath crossed a railway line. An Inspector appointed to consider the case had refused the application and the Ramblers Association had applied to the High Court for judicial review of this decision. The Court refused the application on the basis that a right of way could not have been created across the railway line. This is an English case and the law on the creation of rights of way in England is different from in Scotland. However, the case includes some interesting discussion on the question of the creation of rights of way across railway lines. The Ramblers had also argued that, even if the right of way could not be created across the railway line, there could be two ‘cul-de-sac’ routes, each terminating at the railway line, but this was not accepted. The court said that the railway line was not a suitable terminus for a right of way because it was not a ‘legitimate place of public resort’.