Stanley Hall footpath switch plan

THE proposed footpath diversion round the 17th century Stanley Hall Farm house, Cheadle Hulme, has aroused comment from a footpath preservation society.

The owner of the black-and-white timbered hall, Mr Massoud Halimi, has been trying to renovate the building and extend it for almost two years in the hope that he, his wife and three children can live there.

Delay, however due to the building's poor structural condition and to the fact that it is listed by the Department of Environment as being of historical interest, has held up work considerably.

The footpath plan is to divert the existing public pathway from its course up to and round the building; to a westerly route round the farm.

The Peak and Northern Footpaths Society, however, think that the diversion, under Section III of the Highways Act 1959, is not so much to “secure the more efficient use of the land” as the section states, as to gain a little privacy for Stanley Hall itself.

In a letter to Mr Peter Bounds, the Stockport Director of Administration, the society points out: “You will be aware, of course, that privacy is a legally invalid reason for diverting a path”.

While not objecting at this stage to a diversion, the society's closure and diversions secretary, Mr. Donald W. Lee, wishes to ensure that any new route would be properly drained and laid out and suitably signposted.

The society is also asking for council assurance that Mr Halimi will not erect any high fencing which would block the view of the Hall itself from passers by.

At the moment the roof of the hall has been removed and is covered with tarpaulin. The plans have had to be redesigned because of the end walls which it is thought, will not stand the weight of a new roof.

The council legal department is to write to Mr Halimi and the footpaths society.