A LANDOWNER locked in a feud with his local council over a right of way and a missing bridge has accused the authority of harassing him.

The Northern Echo reported last week how ramblers and villagers had fought for 34 years to replace the missing Skewkirk Bridge, over the River Nidd, in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire County Council has a 36 metre-long replacement lying in a depot in Selby, but says it cannot install it because landowner David Fattorini will not let officers on to his land.

The authority said the bridge - between Tockwith and Kirk Hammerton, near York - would link up a public right of way, but Mr Fattorini does not believe it is a highway.

His solicitor, Michael Orlik, based in Solihull and a specialist in highway law, said he has written numerous letters to the authority since February 2001 asking officers to come up with evidence that it is a public highway.

Mr Orlik said the council had continually "dragged its heels" over the dispute and that the "constant harassment" of Mr Fattorini had to stop.

"If the council went away and did its homework and came up with evidence which says it is a highway, then he would reconsider his position very carefully," he said.

"They try to blame Mr Fattorini but make no effort at all to find out if it is a highway."

Mr Orlik said that maps from about 1900 showed Skewkirk was a toll bridge, which would mean it was a private highway.

Council solicitor David Walker said: "We certainly think it is a highway and we are going to try and prove that it is.

"It has been claimed in a letter that we have harassed Mr Fattorini, but we have never sent letters to him direct, always to his solicitor, and don't feel we have harassed anyone. We are just trying to pursue our position."

The authority is considering a compulsory purchase order to buy the rights to go on the land and install the bridge, or pursuing a court declaration under the Highways Act.

The bridge was removed by the former West Riding County Council in 1969.