A LONG-running wrangle over the use of a bridleway campaigners say was closed during the foot and mouth restrictions 14 years ago is to be settled by a planning inspector at a public inquiry.

North Yorkshire county councillors have approved an application to officially recognise a bridleway, known as Rosper Road, which runs from Pately’s Plantation to Kirkby Moor Farm at Kirkby Malzeard, near Masham.

The inquiry is being held at Grewelthorpe Village Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 9 and 10 after North Yorkshire County Council ruled a map modification order should be made so the right of way is re-opened.

Campaigner Richard Sadler said the track had been closed in 2000 due to foot-and-mouth disease restrictions, and while they were in place one of the properties which the track runs through, Kirkby Moor Farm, was sold.

When the restrictions were lifted the following year, local horse riders were prevented from using the route, as the gate at its southern end was locked.

Mr Sadler said: "We believe it is quite wrong that a single landowner should be able to unilaterally block up an historic route just because they do not like the idea of people riding across their land, and in so doing deprive riders from using a route which has been enjoyed for many generations.

“I have been pursuing this objection and helping to coordinate evidence. We won’t know what the planning inspector will decide for a few months but we hope our appeal to have the road reinstated will be successful,” he added.

After years of research, local riders groups found several maps, one of which dated back to the early 19th Century, showing the route marked as a "bridle road".

They submitted an application to the county council to have the bridleway officially recognised after finding an extract from a 1789 Kirkby Malzeard document described Rosper Bridle Road as a "horse and foot road twenty feet in breadth. Twenty-seven riders claimed to have used the route over more than 60 years.

A county council spokeswoman said: "While we can sympathise with the landowners' concerns over potential damage to their land and disturbance to livestock by horses using the route, these are not issues that can be considered when determining whether or not public rights to use the route exist.

“The purpose of this planning inspection public enquiry is to establish whether or not public bridleway rights exist on the route at Kirkby Malzeard between Paley’s Plantation and Kirkby Moor Farm.”

The owners of Kirkby Moor Farm did not wish to comment.