Pippa Middleton and hedge fund boss husband win battle to bar public right of way through estate of their £15million mansion

Pippa Middleton and her hedge fund boss husband have won the battle to bar the public from using a footpath through their £15million country estate. 

The Princess of Wales's sister argued that the public path through the estate risked her family's safety. 

The path, through Grade I-listed Barton Court in Berkshire, is familiar to locals in neighbouring Kintbury, who have been using its thoroughfare as a safe means of reaching the village instead of walking on narrow Station Road, which has blind turns, heavy traffic and no pavement. 

Ms Middleton and husband James Matthews were accused of using her sister's royal status to justify banning ramblers from walking on the footpath. 

Locals claimed the gates to the path were always left open by the estate's previous owner - the late Habitat founder Sir Terence Conran - on the understanding that it could be used as a public passageway. 

But shortly after snapping up the estate for £15million in 2022, Ms Middleton and Mr Matthews - heir to a Scottish feudal title - installed electric gates and signs reading 'Private: No Public Access' and 'No Trespassing' at both ends of the path. 

Thirty-five residents, backed by The Ramblers' Association, appealed to West Berkshire Council to have the lane declared a public right of way.

Mr Matthews, however, argued that the path had not been freely used for 20 years as required by law.  

Pippa Middleton and her husband James Matthews have won the battle to bar the public from using a footpath through their £15million country estate 

Mill Lane sits on the couple's Barton Court estate - linking a public footpath with a busy main road

And while Ken Taylor, the government-appointed planning inspector, ruled that the couple could not rely on privacy and security concerns, he said today that there was not sufficient proof that the path was freely used by walkers for 20 years. 

He overturned its designation as a public right of way. 

A spokeswoman for the couple said: 'We are grateful for the careful consideration given to the facts and appreciate the time invested by all parties.'

Tony Vickers, a local Liberal Democrat councillor, said: 'I am surprised and very disappointed that the inspector came down on the landowner's side. After attending almost all the inquiry, I could not see any relevant argument put by Mr Matthews' supporters.' 

It was reported in May that locals claimed Ms Middleton was exercising the royal status of her sibling - Catherine, Princess of Wales - to suggest she and her husband deserve special treatment, owing to their need for privacy and security.

One angry local thundered to the Mail in April: 'They're not even the proper Royal Family.'

Neil Pike, the local 'footpath secretary' for ramblers, told the inquiry Mill Lane was 'intrinsic' to life in Kintbury.

Mr Matthews attended the opening of the Planning Inspectorate inquiry held at Kintbury's village hall - unaccompanied by his wife (pictured in May)

Barton Court estate in Berkshire is the £15million home of Pippa Middleton, sister of the Princess of Wales, and her ex-racing driver husband

'Until recently I have never known Mill Lane to be closed for any reason,' he said.

'In all the time I have been footpath secretary no one has reported to me that they've been stopped or turned back while walking along Mill Lane.

'If Mill lane is removed from public use then Station Road is the only alternative and does not bear thinking about.

'I do not understand why the present owners are trying to close it when it has been used by the walking public for decades.'

But Paul Wilmshurst, the barrister representing Mr Matthews, said in a written submission that declaring the path a public right of way would 'cause very real practical [and] privacy difficulties and security issues'. 

He said: 'The route is over land, which, at all material times, has formed and has had the local reputation as being the private drive to the house at Barton Court.' 

Mr Matthews told the public inquiry: '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.

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

He was supported by the widow of Sir Terence Conran, who sold him the estate after her husband's death.

Lady Victoria Conran, who used to live on the estate with her late husband the designer Sir Terence Conran, was seen speaking to Mr Matthews in May 

Lady Victoria Conran told the inquiry: 'In the 30 years that I lived at Barton Court, I only ever saw one person using the driveway who should not have been there … Suffice to say, I never observed any organised groups of ramblers using the driveway.' 

Mr Taylor, the planning inspector, said that there was evidence from at least 1983 of a 'Barton Court Private Road' sign on the path. Another image showed that by June 2020 the sign read 'Barton Court Estate, No Through Road'. 

He concluded that the 'low levels of use' of the drive was not sufficient to demonstrate that the public were asserting a continuous right to use it as a footpath.