A LONG-RUNNING battle to get a Windermere footpath officially recognised has taken a new turn.

Windermere parish councillor Jennifer Jewell has been trying for some time to get a path through Jubilee Field to the shore of Windermere put on a map to preserve the right of way should the field ever be sold.

At the latest meeting of the Lake District National Park Authority's implementation committee, her application to record the footpath as a public right of way because it has been used for many years was turned down. But members have instead requested that another way of legally recognising the path should be investigated.

The path goes from the A592 at Rayrigg Road, north of Bowness, and crosses Jubilee Field to the lake.

South Lakeland District Council, the field's owner, had been planning to sell the land although the committee heard that the proposal had since been withdrawn and a trust will manage the land.

Jubilee Field's history goes back to 1937, when it was bought to commemorate the Coronation of George VI using donations from the public, and given to Windermere Urban District Council.

It passed into SLDC's ownership in 1974 and the path has been used throughout that time with the council's permission.

The committee was advised by the authority's solicitor that to qualify as a public right of way a path must have been used for more than 20 years "without force, without secrecy and without permission".

In this case access has been with permission and so use cannot contribute to the acquisition of footpath rights. However, members felt that there was an obvious public need for the route and requested an investigation into whether it would be possible to make a special creation order' which is another legal means of establishing a footpath. A report will be brought back to the committee in March 2004.