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saraht
Silver Member
 England
414 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 2:09:24 PM
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Hope someone can help, we are hoping to buy 20 acres of grazing land for our horses  (and other sundry livestock that our daughter is bound to find needing a good home) the land has a footpath running across it and whilst it doesn't look to be well used and would be relatively simple to be fenced off I am concerned as to what sort of insurance we should have in place. The horses have third party included in their policies but do I need third party incase someone falls over and hurts themselves or falls of the stile? Also, can I insist that dogs are kept on leads/under close control although I can always stock fence the footpath. All searches have been done ie there are no foul sewers, drains, subsidence, contamination etc. It seems to be perfect for what we need and land comes up here so infrequently. NFU will only insure us if the house is with them - what do others do . There are no permanent buildings on site.
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 Bramble 'darli  Birdy  Zirrus  Poppy |
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kimzi
Gold Member
865 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 5:46:33 PM
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| Hi,sarah you will need planning permission to fence the footpath off, the law now dictates that where footpaths run over private land the right to roam extends from hedge to hedge and planting a new hedge wont work.Insurance urghh no have tried this when we had a footpath running through our stallion paddocks and menage and they did'nt want to know. You can put up a sign asking people to keep their dogs on leads and children under control but do not mention danger or beware on your sign as it can be deemed as admitting liability should an accident occur. Good luck, it is so hard to find land that has'nt got a footpath somewhere on it that alot of us are in the same boat. |
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polly
Platinum Member
2183 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 6:22:13 PM
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| Good advice from KIMZI. DO NOT put up signs saying "beware " simply state livestock grazing. we have a footpath that we fenced off, but we had to jump thru hoops to get permission, and it was only because the footpath is deemed to be Roman, and we were splitting fence posts like matchsticks, as the ground was so hard,that they allowed it. You may want to try Shearwater as they do tailor made insurance.Good Luck Polly |
   
Photos1and2EricGJones
pollywells@.live.co.uk |
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pat ww
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
3459 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 8:25:31 PM
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Hi can you let me know which act of parliament to look up for the rights to roam, its bad enough with people on a set path without having the right to wander literally anywhere.
What if you wanted to subdivide a field for stock? Surely the owner retains some rights in relationto normal land management and good practice? What about growing crops? I sometimes get details of land for sale, and dont even look at those with footpaths, bad enough neighbouring houses pinching some land at the boundaries. |
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rosyw
Platinum Member
England
3756 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 9:58:42 PM
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| You need to check if the land is classed as access land, the right to roam doesn't cover all areas, if you go to www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk you can check the access maps for your area and the regulations. |
Edited by - rosyw on 21 Jun 2007 10:36:46 PM |
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saraht
Silver Member
England
414 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 10:28:50 PM
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| Thanks for the link, and your advise - there is no open access in this area at the moment. Guess I'll have to wait and see if we get it (auction tomorrow) keep your fingers crossed! I'm getting very worried about it now -OH is in the US and is leaving it all up to me - bound to get carried away and pay too much ! |
Bramble 'darli Birdy Zirrus Poppy |
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rosyw
Platinum Member
England
3756 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 10:36:01 PM
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Typical man! leaves it all to you so he blame you when it goes wrong GOOD LUCK |
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Tahir
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4572 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2007 : 11:35:26 PM
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Buy some Jacob ewes, they have large horns and are enough to scare even the most adventurous walker off your land, especially when they have just lambed - they even scare our working collies!!! Sorry to be so negative, but walkers should be respectful of any footpath they encounter, and if they get hurt, it was their choice to enter a field full of livestock!!!!
Carla, xx. |
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Tahir
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4572 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2007 : 12:04:19 AM
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Sorry, my last post was so unhelpful!!! I feel the need to explain.
Responsible walkers are always welcome on our land, we have a footpath dividing the majority of "our" acreage just across the road from the house, and most of our neighbours use the footpath to walk their dogs (on a lead). Our neighbours are always well aware of the "job" we are trying to do. Our flock of sheep spend most of their life in two of the fields that the footpath goes through. The other "footpath" field is standing crop, ie: hay/haylage. The stiles into and out of the field are well maintained and even have a dog "chute". Fortunately our collies usually alert us when walkers are entering or leaving our land (clever dogs!!), this gives us the opportunity to monitor the walkers and talk to them if necessary. Talking to the less responsible walkers can help to educate them as to the LAW of the countryside, for example - "dogs can be legally shot if they are caught worrying livestock" and "destroying standing crops is an offence".
Hope this helps, and if a person "chooses" to go onto a footpath, then surely they should be responsible for their choice - or should we start labelling every ditch and blackthorn bush!!??
Carla, xx. |
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saraht
Silver Member
England
414 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2007 : 01:28:33 AM
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Don't give her any ideas - we already 'have to have a llama'- to keep the foxes away and 'there's plenty of room for a house cow Mum'!!!!
Spoke to a couple of farmers tonight and they said basically what you have - as long as the footpath is usable and we haven't tried to deter people from using it or made it unsafe then it is at their own risk. They also said if we were to use electric fencing then we must have it marked as such. Was also advised to get some geese! Just know we are going to end up with a zoo! |
Bramble 'darli Birdy Zirrus Poppy |
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Tahir
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4572 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2007 : 01:39:09 AM
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Try getting some British Longhorn cattle, they are adorable but look savage enough to put any walker off, hee hee!!!
Carla, xx. |
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pat ww
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
3459 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2007 : 08:38:03 AM
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Geese! We get the wild Canada geese visiting the local angling club pond and then continue to graze my fields. Horses not keen to eat round the goose poo which is disgusting and gets everywhere.
We kept a couple at home, better than a dog for making a noise if anyone was at our boundary, if you can put up with it, and aggtessive over their territory. geese are not for everyone but are good deterrents if you can deal with them yourself! But someone will allow themselves to be hurt and sue you if human nature remains what it is. |
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KittyB
Silver Member
United Kingdom
295 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2007 : 4:05:04 PM
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It's probably a bit late in the day now for advice on this thread. However, the fencing in itself wouldn't require planning permission unless the land has had it's permitted development rights removed or you were applying to change the use of land from agricultural to horse keeping, in which case it might be included within that. Check with your friendly local planning officer first! If the horses are going to eat off the land and you aren't going to be exercising or giving them(lots of) supplementary feed, ie hay on the land, then the use of the land won't have changed in planning terms. If however you decide you want a field shelter, unless its one of those movable on-skid types, then it is likely to require planning permission. If you want to divert the public right of way, you need to apply to the local authority for a footpath diversion which is a very lengthy and costly procedure and may not be successful. You can fence off your footpath from the rest of the field to prevent people straying off it, or you can put up a sign saying "please keep to the footpath". If it's a definitive RoW then the local authority are normally responsible for waymarking. You may need permission from the local authority to install gates/stiles etc where before there were none. The RoW people will only be bothered if you try to block the path or it is unusable due to poor ground conditions or overgrown bushes etc or if you try to discourage people from using it, eg by putting a lot of aggressive geese in there, or vicious dogs, or a stallion, or a bull without cows. Really, its using your common sense and not inviting trouble. Let's all remember, we horseriders owe much of our enjoyment to public RoW, without which we would be stuck on the roads with all the loonies.
Re insurance - we have a separate land insurance for our 12 acres which covers us for anyone falling down a hole on our land, or tripping up, etc and the horses third party insurance (c/o the BHS) covers me for if either of them decide to take a chunk out of someone (not so far, thank goodness), though my mare has chased off the odd dog or two which made their owners put them on a lead the next time! You do need to insure your land third party as even if someone gets hurt and they're trespassing or they've strayed off the footpath, you may still have to fork out. You are not supposed to put barbed wire adjacent to a footpath, and if you electric fence you must not use mains supply next to a footpath and you must put up those yellow warning signs every 90m (I think). The right to roam does not extend to most agricultural land. But you can check all this stuff with your friendly Local Authority Rights of Way Officer!
Good luck and enjoy your new land.
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