PENRITH and The Border MP David Maclean is having a public spat with a Government body which he says is deliberately keeping him in the dark, reports Will Mapplebeck.

Mr Maclean has taken out a number of newspaper adverts condemning the Countryside Commission for not giving him the names of constituents affected by the northern extension to the Pennine bridleway, part of which will stretch through his constituency.

Now he wants all those affected to write to him at the House of Commons so he can gauge opinion and set up a public meeting.

Part of the advert reads: "I am sorry this unorthodox action is necessary, but I have never known a government agency to refuse to disclose this sort of simple information to a member of parliament before."But the commission, the Government body responsible for conserving and promoting the countryside, says it will not release any names until the route of the pathway - suitable for horses, bicycles and walkers - has been finalised.

Pennine Bridleway project officer Susan Rogers said: "Until we know the final route we will not have all the information Mr Maclean has requested. We also have to bear in mind that the issue of land ownership is confidential."She added: "We honestly do not believe we have worked in a secretive fashion at all."But Mr Maclean believes the commission is stalling deliberately to try to head off opposition to its plan.

He said: "They could tell me those names. This is a ploy so that the individual farmers opposed to the scheme will not know who each other are until it is too late.""I will get round them and I do not want to have a spat with them."The bridleway, which is still to be approved by the secretary of state for the environment, will begin in Derbyshire and is largely made up of already-existing paths which will be linked together to form one route.

Mr Maclean says he is "sceptical" about the plan, but will support it if his constituents give it the thumbs-up.

The MP thinks that it could attract quad bikers and motorcyclists to previously quiet country lanes.

He added: "I am getting a lot of letters saying that landowners are very unhappy about what is going on."

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