THE British Horse Society and another objector at a inquiry into a bridleway issue near Bedale have been landed with a bill for thousands of pounds.

Graham Laslett, who conducted a five-day inquiry earlier this year into the status of Jack Lane, a public right of way at Hunton, has awarded costs to North Yorkshire County Council, which claimed that unreasonable behaviour by the objectors led to the hearing.

In a strongly-worded report Mr Laslett made the order against Alan Kind of Newcastle, who has been a consultant on public rights of way issues for 16 years and edits the journal of the Byways and Bridleways Trust, and the British Horse Society (BHS).

And in a further unusual step, Mr Laslett ordered that Mr Kind and the BHS should pay the costs of the farmer who applied for Jack Lane to be downgraded from a bridleway to a footpath.

County council costs are expected to be between £4,000 and £5,000 but it is understood that those of the farmer, who engaged a QC to fight his case, are likely to be three times as much.

The farmer successfully claimed that Jack Lane was wrongly included as a bridleway on the rights of way map for Richmondshire, but objections by Mr Kind and the BHS resulted in an appeal and an inquiry.

Mr Laslett said the BHS had used the hearing to lodge an objection which was only a cover for its favouring an alternative route.