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THURS THURS21 26MAY MAR2026 2026 www.looklocal.org.uk news@looklocal.org.uk Tel: 0114 283 11 00
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ISSUE ISSUE: :1418 1426
New gate opens access to woodland and trails @looklocalnewspapersheffield
A four-year campaign by the Upper Don Trail Trust and the Oughtibridge and Wharncliffe Side community, sometimes dubbed ‘Oughtigate’, has succeeded in opening safe and official access to beautiful public woodlands via Yorkshire Water land It will soon also form an important missing link in the Upper Don Trail from central Sheffield to Langsett and Penistone. The opportunity arose from the redevelopment of the former Oughtibridge paper mill site on the River Don at Wharncliffe Side by Barrett/DWH and Sky-House to provide over 350 new homes.
Houses were marketed with the prospect of direct access to the adjoining public woodland mainly owned and managed by Forestry England. However, part of a historic path into the woods - recorded as far back as the early 1800s - also serves as access to the Wharncliffe Side water treatment works. It had been gated by Yorkshire Water as a temporary measure to stop unauthorised vehicles and fly-tipping whilst the paper mill site was unoccupied and derelict. As a result, for over four years residents have had to resort to a hole in the fence down a steep and
hazardous riverbank to enjoy publicly owned woodland designated as Open Access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. In May 2022, the Upper Don Trail Trust - a local charity - took up the matter with Yorkshire Water and Forestry England, supported by local residents, the Ramblers, the Trans Pennine Trail and Barnsley Council. Now, after four years almost to the day of patient lobbying, Yorkshire Water have granted a permissive right of way into the woods. They have also installed a new ‘kissing gate’ on Aspen Road. This bypasses the big locked gate, allowing access - although at this stage for walkers only. For local residents, this means no more perilous squeezing with through an unofficial hole in a fence to walk the dog or go for a run. For the Trust and the wider community, it’s the first step to providing an important missing link in the ambitious long-distance off-road trail from central Sheffield to Langsett or Penistone, roughly two-thirds of which is in place.
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