Obstruction of Highway – Highway not clear
The apellant protesters had been convicted of obstructing the highway by affixing themselves to a fence by a roadway by the Atomic Weapons Establishment. They argued that the road was not a highway and that any obstruction was de minimis. In particular, a green line presumed to indicate the boundary of the road way had been found by the judge to have possibly been misplaced without satisfactory evidence.
Held: ‘I have reached the conclusion that the finding of fact made by District Judge Khan at paragraph 19 e. of the Case Stated cannot be reconciled with a finding that he was sure that the Appellants laid down upon the highway . . there was simply no evidence before the District Judge which would begin to justify the conclusion that an area of the road to the west of the green line, which had been part of the private road until the green line had been painted on the road, ceased to be part of the private road and became part of the highway. There was no evidence before him that this area of road had all the characteristics of a highway and certainly no evidence to establish that an additional area of the road had been dedicated as such.’
Burnett LJ, Sir Wyn Williams
[2017] EWHC 1955 (QB)
Bailii
Highways Act 1980 32 137(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Kotegaonkar v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Another Admn 19-Jul-2012
The court was asked: ‘can a way which is not connected to another public highway, or to some other point to which the public have a right of access, itself be a public highway?’ A path had been registered over part of te claimant’s land, but with no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.591415