A HAMPSHIRE woman has won her eight-year battle to have two footpaths opened after the Secretary of State for the Environment intervened.

The ruling means that county residents now have official access to a foreshore.

The disputed path has been used by people attending the Bursledon Regatta, now in its 135th year, and by tourists visiting the site where the TV series Howard's Way was filmed.

Diane Andrewes took action after the Jolly Sailor pub in Bursledon requested planning permission to build an extension that would have blocked the path leading from Land's End Road to the foreshore of the Hamble river.

She submitted evidence in 1999 that the footpaths were public highways and should be shown on Hampshire County Council's definitive map of public rights of way.

It then took seven years for council officers to rule on her claim that the public had used the thoroughfare for 20 years without ever being stopped or having to ask permission.

The authorities refused to order the paths to be mapped citing insufficient evidence that they were public highways.

After taking legal advice from the Open Spaces Society, of which she is a member, Diane challenged the county's decision and submitted further evidence.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has ordered the map to be changed.

Diane said: "It's easy to take these places for granted until they are threatened."

Margaret Snaith, Hampshire County Council's executive member for recreation and heritage, said: "We are currently dealing with 200 applications to modify the definitive map of public rights of way.

"These investigations are very detailed and time consuming.

"It was decided that the number of people who actually used the paths for recreation was too low to raise the presumption that the paths had been dedicated as public rights of way.

"Mrs Andrewes provided new evidence in support of her claim.

"If there are no objections to the order, the paths will be recorded as public rights of way; if there are objections then a public inquiry may be held."