OBJECTIONS have been made to a local farmer's attempt to delete a footpath to Kettlewell from the definitive map.

Four objectors have protested about an order made by the Secretary of State for the Environment to delete the path, which the farmer says has never existed.

One of the objectors, 79-year-old Richard Harland, told the Herald he had been walking the footpath for more than 40 years.

Mr Harland, of Intake Lane, Grassington, said the path, which has no stiles, was one of his regular routes to Kettlewell.

He said: "If you walk along the Dales Way from Grassington towards Kettlewell, there is a path that goes down near Scargill House and joins up with the road to Kettlewell. This path we're talking about."

Mr Harland said he believed there was sufficient evidence to suggest there had been a footpath there for some considerable time.

"There's some evidence of people using it way back before the war. In addition, when it was put on the map in the early 1950s it was advertised, went before the parish meeting a couple of times and also went before the parish council. At that stage no one objected to it being a footpath."

Members of the national park authority rights of way committee discussed the issue at a recent meeting and agreed not to actively support the move to delete the footpath if a public inquiry was held.

The authority received an application to delete the footpath, number 18, in 1998, but members decided there was not enough evidence to warrant the deletion as the farmer had not shown that a footpath had never existed.

The applicant then went to the Secretary of State for the Environment to appeal against the decision of the authority and an investigation was carried out by a Government inspector, who supported the farmer.

The national park authority was then ordered to delete the path from the definitive map and the objections came forward when the matter was advertised.

Bev Parker, definitive map officer for the authority, said: "The objections must be sent to the Secretary of State so that the issues can be determined, probably by local public inquiry."

Landowner and farmer, Brian Appleton, of West Gate Farm, Kettlewell, told the Herald there had been arguments about the issue for the last 20 years.

He said: "How can a footpath exist when there are no stiles. There has never been a footpath marked on the old maps, but it was put on this definitive map."