RobinB5

The good people of Ross are already planning on doing this

If the council removed and repaired the obstruction, they'd bill the land owner for time+materials. Despite the fact that the land owner could easily afford that, it would be gratifying. Also, if they subsequently remove the repairs the council had made, I'm assuming they'd be in a better position to be charged. But by god, I'm tempted to go up there with chainsaw and angle grinder...

I live next to a lovely country house estate (Cubberley House in Hom Green, Ross-on-Wye). There's a public footpath that runs through that 92 acre estate, that's on the definitive map. It's a lovely route that goes from Wilton Bridge in Ross-on-Wye south west to the hamlet of Hom Green. Enjoyed by walkers and runners alike. Where the footpath runs through that estate it is well signed and fenced, where it crosses the drive of the estate there are a couple of metal spiked gates. There are also stiles at the entrance and exit of the ~0.25 mile stretch of the footpath through that private land. A couple of years ago a couple purchased the estate. Last year they zip tied shut the metal gates passing the drive. After receiving a notice from the council they removed those ties. 2 weeks ago they did the following: Removed all stiles from the foot path and replaced them with 6 foot high fence segments Barbed wire shut the 2 gates Completely removed a well made footpath bridge over a stream Last week they: Welded shut the metal gates Replaced the stile replaced fences with boards Put up 'keep out due to Coronavirus' signs Suffice to say Ross-on-Wye social media groups are up in arms. Following due process the council has been made aware and a contravention of the highways act notice has been served on the land owner. Public rights of way in the UK have been hard fought over and are well defended by law. However with the county council so underfunded, and the contractor (Balfour Beatty) overstretched as it is, covering also pot hole and other highway maintenance obligations, likely this issue will not be resolved for some time. Both within legal rights, and also compelling to consider, one could remove the obstructions to ensure public right of access. However if the council removed and replaced these obstructions, the land owner would be billed for time+materials. The thing that pisses me off the most is the blatant disregard of the law being exhibited. The Coronavirus reason is just an excuse, the house is a long way from the footpath and if anything, following DEFRA's advise, all gates on the footpath should be tied open to ensure no one has to touch them. Spending £4M on a country pad does not grant anyone the right to ride roughshod over the laws of this country. It will be resolved in time, I'm sure. But in cases like these the authorities don't seem to have the teeth to ensure it's resolved quickly and that it won't happen again.

One should never let the LinkedIn engineering community forget the legacy of Chapman and Giugiaro ... https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6669722417092427776/

Took my youngest out for a lock down compliant spin in the S4. Stay safe folks 1994 Motor Show S4, still going strong after 93k!

Interesting comment from Mike Kimberley about Chapman's dislike of snail eyed pictures of Esprits! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158687686906929

@Clarky5150 did you ever diagnose the problem via ALDL?

Excellent bags @Fridge !!

Week 3 of house bound isolation, trying to get at least a little bit more healthy just in case. Gave up smoking about 5 years ago, now given up vaping as well. Also off the booze and back to running. If I do get it and it gets me, I'll be bowing out a little lighter and very bored.

Barry swapped them before I bought her. What with that, a Quicksilver exhaust and the ram air conversion, she's loud, boomy and very poppy when hot

Here's the original CAT off the S4, currently on a shelf. More than happy to lend it out @Clarky5150However won't be going out of the house for a few weeks yet.

A peer reviewed journal article from 2007 (Clinical Microbiology Reviews), with the catchy title "SARS-CoV AS AN AGENT OF EMERGING/REEMERGING INFECTION" https://sci-hub.si/10.1128/CMR.00023-07 contains the rather telling paragraph: Coronaviruses are well known to undergo genetic recombination (375), which may lead to new genotypes and outbreaks. The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb. The possibility of the reemergence of SARS and other novel viruses from animals or laboratories and therefore the need for preparedness should not be ignored. I'm sure that there might have been other ways Covid-19 could have entered our population, eating bats maybe didn't help though.

As crappy as the interest rate rise is, it was decided some months before Covid19: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51278036