Campaigners Cautiously Welcome New Path Proposal

Published on: 29 Mar, 2026
Updated on: 30 Mar, 2026

“South Field” path on the Hog’s Back in July 2025

By Martin Giles

Loseley Estate’s proposal to create a new pathway on the Hog’s Back to allow enjoyment of views to the south over the Surrey Hills has been given a cautious welcome by campaigners.

The proposed new path would include a hedge that would prevent ingress into the neighbouring fields and protect crops there. However as planned it does not run the whole length of the recently blocked permissive path.

See: Loseley Estate Proposes New Path to ‘Enhance Public Access and Protect Farmland’

A short statement written on behalf of St Catherine’s and Onslow Villages’ residents associations said:”The community welcomes Loseley Estate’s recognition of the importance of public access to this much loved National Landscape and ‘the importance of the route for our health and wellbeing’ as well as the views.

“We will be reviewing the details of the proposal carefully, including its implications for the existing hedgerow and long-term public access.

“We remain committed to working constructively with Loseley to find a genuinely balanced and environmentally sound solution and look forward to engaging directly with the Owner and Estate Manager in the coming days.”

But the proposal might not meet everyone’s expectations. Jacqui Brown, writing to The Dragon from a “Southfield Walkers” email address, wrote: “We feel it important to highlight that the recently obstructed South Field path is not a ‘permissive path’ but, we believe, an ‘unrecorded right of way’.

“This path has been used for many decades ‘as of right’ by the local community. In simple terms, people walked this path uninterrupted for well over 20 years ‘without force, without secrecy and without permission’.”

Her group were gathering evidence for it to be registered as a public right of way.

See: We Believe Blocked Path Is An ‘Unrecorded Right of Way’