A DISPUTE over a much-loved pathway will be put before Gwynedd Council’s planning committee on Monday.

The dispute surrounds a path in front of Mawddach Crescent, near Arthog, on the south bank of the river not far from the Barmouth viaduct.

Residents claim that walkers are treading across their front garden, but campaigners claim they have been using the scenic path without obstruction for decades, ever since a tramway ran along the estuary in the very early 20th century.

If their claims are proven to be true, then a strong claim can be made that the pathway should enjoy legal status as a right of way.

However, planning officers believe that landowners at Mawddach Crescent have done enough to stop walkers from using the disputed pathway, therefore the claim for ‘unhindered access’ is void.

Huw Roberts, who grew up in Arthog, submitted an application to Gwynedd Council in August 2014 to have the “beautiful” route added to the Definitive Public Rights of Way map which is controlled by Gwynedd Council.

However, to his and many others dismay, Gwynedd Council planners have recommended the application for refusal, forcing walkers to walk behind the waterfront properties, along a muddy lane where Mawddach Crescent residents keep their bins.

John Jones, a former resident of Mawddach Crescent, clearly remembers visitors walking across the path in front of his property.

He says the path is popular with locals and holidaymakers.

But a number of residents of Mawddach Crescent, both former and current, offered evidence that the pathway had been marked as “private” for many years, that walkers had been regularly challenged and that “all efforts have been made to exclude the public”.

Read the full story in today’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News