Kate's sister Pippa Middleton and brother-in-law win footpath battle

The Princess of Wales’s sister and brother-in-law have won a planning battle to prevent part of their driveway being designated a public footpath after raising concerns over security.

Kate’s sister Pippa married James Matthews, a hedge fund boss, in May 2017, and the family moved to Barton Court in west Berkshire in autumn 2022.

Mr Matthews installed an electric security gate on the drive in September 2022, which prompted walking group West Berkshire Ramblers to apply for a “definitive map modification order” in January 2023 to recognise a public footpath on the land.

He told a planning inquiry at Kintbury Coronation Hall near Hungerford earlier this year that there is a need for a higher level of security at his property due to his family’s high public profile.

James and Pippa Matthews in 2018. (Chris Jackson/PA)

Now planning inspector Kenneth Taylor has decided not to confirm the order, which means that the route will not be recorded as a public footpath.

In a statement to the inquiry, West Berkshire District Council said the application was based on “the legal principle that a public footpath can be deemed to exist if it has been enjoyed by the public for an uninterrupted period of 20 years, without force, secrecy or permission, or if evidence infers that a public footpath has been dedicated by a landowner at some point in the past and that dedication has then been accepted by the public (i.e. by being used by the public)”.

Speaking at the inquiry in May, Mr Matthews said there was nothing in the conveyancing process which alerted him to any public use of the drive when he purchased the property in August 2022.

James and Pippa Matthews in 2018

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Mr Matthews said: “There are implications for my family, due to their high public profile, which means there is a need for a higher level of security than would otherwise be the case if the circumstances were different.

“Therefore to improve security for my family, before we moved in, I arranged for an electric security gate to be erected on the drive.

“This is the gate at Point X. It was installed in September 2022. It is kept shut, except perhaps on the odd occasion such as when a visit by family or friends is expected.

“When the gate was put in, no one from the parish council or the village came to speak with us, or contacted us, about the gate to say that there was any problem with it being there.

“In the period after the footpath application, unfortunately there has been a continued need to enhance security and the gates at Station Road have therefore been upgraded in the summer of 2025 and kept closed.”

He also said in the last three-and-a-half years he has seen “only a handful of people, on maybe two or three occasions, walking along the drive”.

Each time he said he spoke to those on the drive and told them it was not a public footpath and they acknowledged that it was not a footpath.