The long ‘temporary’ closure of the Bishop’s Stortford Footpath 002 across Stortford Fields has been a matter of frustration for many local residents. Given that the construction of the new access road onto the Bishop’s Stortford bypass has not yet commenced it appears inevitable that the northern section of this public right of way will remain closed for the foreseeable future. However, there is some good news with the recent opening of the Bourne Brook ‘Greenway’, linking Rye Street with the A120 pedestrian underpass, now providing a viable alternative route. This comes with a caveat as it is entirely possible that this new path could potentially be closed by the developers at short notice if there is any construction in the vicinity.
The path was certainly fully open when I walked it mid week and it now provides an excellent link to the public rights of way network to the north of the town and also creates a very pleasant circular route to Wickham Hall. It is also reasonably simple to connect to from the recently reopened southern section of Bishop’s Stortford Footpath 002.
It is not a public right of way and is ‘shared’ by both pedestrians and cyclists. There is a strong case for the section of public footpath to the north of the A120 underpass to be ‘upgraded’ to a public bridleway as this would provide a safe off road link for cyclists.
