A LYME Regis path will not be opened to the public after a government inspector ruled it should not become a public right of way.

Campaigners have battled for more than 15 years to open Teneriffe Path between Marine Parade and Broad Street as a public right of way, having claimed it had been used freely in the past.

A public inquiry was held at Woodmead Halls in February and inspector Heidi Cruickshank last week announced the campaign by Lyme Regis Town Council to open the route has been rejected.

The town council believed Teneriffe Path had historically been a right of way - while Andrew Marriner, a resident who lives along the route, led the support for the path to remain private.

Ms Cruickshank said: "Given the belief on the part of many members of the town council, and others, that they, their parents and or their grandparents knew this to be a public route, it is a great shame that it has taken so long for the matter to be brought into a public forum.

"The film still from ‘All Over the Town’, released in 1949, shows the door has been in place for at least 68 years. Although it was the ‘permanent’ locking of this door in December 1988 that, eventually, led to the application to record the route, there was evidence that the door was locked at other times."

She added: "I am satisfied from the evidence I heard that the door was locked on numerous occasions over the years from at least the early 1970s, in particular overnight.

"Whilst I agree with the town council that locking it at night, when no-one might be likely to want to use it, may be insufficient to show a lack of intention to dedicate a public right of way, there was evidence that people did use and attempt to use the route at night, and that it was also locked during the day.

"Considering the evidence as a whole I am not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that it has been shown, either under the statute or at common law, that the Order route should be recorded as a public footpath."

In her judgement, Ms Cruickshank also highlighted an "undercurrent of us and them" between the two parties but stated those who used the route in the past "may have had an honest belief" they had the right to do so.

She added: "I agree with the objector that there was clear evidence of ill-will against ‘incomers’ and ‘second-homers’, with an undercurrent of ‘us and them’ in terms of those who thought of themselves as locals of Lyme Regis.

"There has also been some misunderstanding about landownership, with reference to ‘theft’ of land, the majority of which is clearly registered to several different owners of properties along the route.

"Nonetheless, I am satisfied that there has been use of the order route by a number of people over a number of years. I also accept that these people may have had an honest belief that they had a right to use the order route."