BREAKING: Royal Family Left Stunned as Pippa Middleton’s husband makes shocking announcement after footpath row es…
BREAKING: Royal Family Left Stunned as Pippa Middleton’s husband makes shocking announcement after footpath row escalates
Pippa Middleton’s husband has said his family require a higher level of security due to their high public profile, as he defended his decision to seal off an entrance to their estate at a planning enquiry. The Princess of Wales’s sister and her husband, James Matthews, are embroiled in a row over part of their drive being designated a public footpath.
The couple, who moved to Barton Court in West Berkshire in autumn 2022, installed an electric security gate on the drive shortly after moving in, which prompted walking group West Berkshire Ramblers to apply for a “definitive map modification order” in January 2023 to recognise a public footpath on the land. West Berkshire District Council investigated and decided that the order route was “reasonably alleged to exist as a public right of way based on evidence, legislation and case law”, inquiry documents said.
But Mr Matthews objects and told the inquiry that the route is rarely used, and the gate raised no objections from the local parish council or neighbours.
Speaking at the inquiry at Kintbury Coronation Hall in Hungerford on Thursday, Mr Matthews added there was nothing in the conveyancing process which alerted him to any public use of the drive when he purchased the property in August 2022.
Mr Matthews said: “There are implications for my family, due to their high public profile, which means there is a need for a higher level of security than would otherwise be the case if the circumstances were different.
“Therefore to improve security for my family, before we moved in, I arranged for an electric security gate to be erected on the drive. This is the gate at Point X. It was installed in September 2022. It is kept shut, except perhaps on the odd occasion such as when a visit by family or friends is expected.
When the gate was put in, no one from the Parish Council or the village came to speak with us, or contacted us, about the gate to say that there was any problem with it being there.
In the period after the footpath application, unfortunately, there has been a continued need to enhance security, and the gates at Station Road have therefore been upgraded in the summer of 2025 and kept closed.”
Catherine’s brother-in-law also said in the last three-and-a-half years he has seen “only a handful of people, on maybe two or three occasions, walking along the drive”.
Each time he said he spoke to those on the drive and told them it was not a public footpath and they acknowledged that it was not a footpath.
A spokesperson for Mr and Mrs Matthews said: “James Matthews has the right to create a safe environment on his private property, for his young children playing outside, away from foreseeable risks through uncontrolled trespassers and traffic.
“For as long as records exist, there has never been a footpath/public right of way on the land currently under discussion. For decades past there has always been signage pointing out this is the driveway to a private property, with no public access. There are other clearly marked footpaths nearby.
In a statement to the inquiry, West Berkshire District Council said the application was based on “the legal principle that a public footpath can be deemed to exist if it has been enjoyed by the public for an uninterrupted period of 20 years, without force, secrecy or permission, or if evidence infers that a public footpath has been dedicated by a landowner at some point in the past and that dedication has then been accepted by the public (i.e. by being used by the public)”.
David Hill, who was the estate manager for Barton Court between 2016 and 2022, told the inquiry on Thursday morning he does not recall regularly encountering people on the drive who were being told not to be there.
The inquiry continues.
