Activity over footpath

MYSTERY surrounds activity carried out at the site of the infamous blocked path near Nicholas van Hoogstraten's Framfield Palace.

Workers were last week seen moving a refrigeration unit that had blocked the so-called Framfield Nine public right of way since 1990.

However, the unit was later returned to its original position, prompting speculation that heavy plant machinery had been moved on to the grounds of the half-built Hamilton Palace.

An area around the overgrown site which runs across disgraced tycoon Hoogstraten's High Cross Estate had also been cleared, giving rise to thoughts that the anonymous workers had created a diversionary route around the blockage.

The path has long been the subject of legal wranglings since Rarebargain a company formally belonging to Hoogstraten put up obstructions including a locked gate and a 30-metre square barn, plus the refrigeration unit.

East Sussex County Council was taken to court earlier this year by the Ramblers Assoc-iation, who claimed the local authority had failed in its duty to clear the site.

However, the ramblers were unsuccessful in their claim the council had acted unlawfully in considering an application by Rarebargain to divert the 140-year- old footpath.

Both the county council and the Ramblers Assoc-iation this week admitted they were in the dark as to who had carried out the work.

A spokesman for the county said: 'We are carrying out investigations to find out what is happening at the site.'

Hoogstraten, who once famously described ramblers as 'scum', was last month convicted of the manslaughter of business rival Mohammed Raja.

The man who designed Hamilton Palace Anthony Browne last month told the Sussex Express that the structure would probably remain a 'half-built folly'.

Hoogstraten's solicitor, David Englehart, refused to comment on last week's activity at Framfield Nine. 'I never discuss the business affairs of any of my clients,' he said.