An Oxfordshire land owner has dropped his appeal against the county council for compensation for a footpath across the Wychwood Forest, writes Suzanne Huband.

Ramblers and local villagers fought a hard campaign for a public right of way through the forest at Cornbury Park estate, near Charlbury, which is owned by Lord Rotherwick.

Oxfordshire County Council won the right to cut the mile-long path through the ancient woodland in 1989 after a public inquiry.

Lord Rotherwick's late father claimed 1.6m in compensation saying the path had reduced the value of the estate and damaged game-shooting and the forest businesses.

The case was considered by the Lands Tribunal last year, which decided that since the maximum period during which debts of this kind are legally enforceable had expired no compensation was due.

The present Lord Rotherwick, however, announced he would take the case to the Court of Appeal and a date for the hearing was set for May.

Now the county council has been told that the appeal is to be discontinued and it has been paid costs with interest on the entire hearing to date. The county council had declined to reveal the total cost of the saga.

The county council's head of legal services Howard Perkins said: "I think the manner in which the county council handled the case has been faultless. This view has been borne out by Lord Rotherwick's decision to concede."