A TOWN hall spent more than £40,000 in legal fees to force a pathway through a Darwen farm.

Blackburn with Darwen Council forked out £40,231 in legal bills over a decade to establish a route from Dick Bridge through Hole House Farm and the Mary Townley Loop.

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The cost was revealed to Michael Riley, the owner of Holehouse Farm at Pickup Bank, following a Freedom of Information request.

Mr Riley said the original route of the path suggested by the council in 2005 would only have encroached minimally on his land.

But the authorities updated a map so the bridleway, which connects the West Pennine Feeder Route to the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, runs along Mr Riley’s road and paddock, a few feet from his house.

The accounts, which have been seen by the Lancashire Telegraph, show a Public Rights of Way officer was paid £21,120, the council’s own solicitor received £4,900, an external barrister billed the authority £5,900 for a public inquiry and a witness was paid £7,000.

Advertising the changes also cost £1,311 but the total bill does not include the period between 1988 and 2006, as no records are in the current filing system, and the PROW officer costs have been estimated as the council does not retain time sheet records in detailed format.

Much of the money was spent on researching the historic use of the land. Mr Riley said: “When I moved in to the farm in 2008 and I did all the relevant searches the lane came back as being private.

“Six months later I was approached by the council for a little route change but I said it should go through the field so it wouldn’t affect the farm.

“They have spent in the region of £40,000 to £50,000 on this and yet I wasn’t even disagreeing with there being a bridleway – it was just the route they wanted to take. I have had to put the house up for sale yet they could have sorted this out five years ago for a quarter of the price.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council worked with Capita to complete the West Pennine Link bridleway, carrying out a statutory obligation to ensure that the correct rights on its public path network were recorded.

Brian Bailey, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Director of Growth and Prosperity, said the authority’s decision to make an order to upgrade the route from Victoria Buildings to Windy Gap to a bridleway was confirmed by a decision from the Planning Inspectorate.

He said: “Resolving this issue has cost significantly less than the alternative, which was the construction of a new public access route. The existing route can now be used by walkers, equestrians and cyclists.”