Dog walkers in Windsor have reacted with anger after a no-go zone was installed around the new eight-bed home of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Trespassers entering a large area around Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, will be arrested under the Home Office’s security plans.
The couple, both 43, along with their children George, 12, Charlotte, ten, and Louis, seven, will be protected in their “forever home” by an exclusion area with a 2.3-mile perimeter covering 150 acres.
The retraction of public access came into force on Sunday, having been made on September 4 and presented to parliament on September 8.
On Sunday, contractors were seen erecting fence posts barring access to the park via Cranbourne Gate and a car park, which locals pay £110 to use, shut at 7pm that evening.
However, it was only last week that Windsor Great Park wrote to those who pay for car park access informing them of “important changes to access”.
The letter instructed members who want to cancel their membership to contact the “membership team to discuss further.”
The prince and princess and their children will soon move into Forest Lodge
ENGLISH HERITAGE/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
Over the preceding weeks, a steep wooden fence has been erected, fencing off part of the park around the house with signs erected warning the public away.
One notice read: “Due to the pending designation of part of the Great Park as an exclusion area, access via Cranbourne Gate will permanently cease.”
Extra trees have been planted to obscure the view of the house, specialist CCTV cameras installed, and wiring planted behind the house.
Whilst locals understood the “paramount” importance of the family’s safety, they remained unimpressed by the lack of notice they’d been given.
A woman from nearby Winkfield, told The Sun: “Many of us have been walking our dogs here for 20 years, so to be told we can’t any more is a kick in the teeth. We pay annually towards the upkeep of a park, but we are no longer going to be allowed to use part of it.
“They’ve only given us a few days’ notice to say this section of forest is closing forever. Now I’ll need to get in my car to drive further afield to take my dog for a walk.”
Tom Bunn, 32, had conflicting feelings. He regularly parks at the gate to take his nine-year-old dog, Mr Brown, for a stroll near Forest Lodge.
Bunn, from Maidenhead, said: “Obviously, it’s disappointing as my dog loves it here. We come here every couple of weeks, and we’re going to have to find somewhere else now for him to get the miles in. But I completely understand that the safety of William, Kate, and their family is paramount, so we should make sure they can live happily here.”
Some residents were more understanding, one added: “We love the royals and William and Kate, and it’s so exciting they are moving to Forest Lodge. It’s clear this car park closure has not come from them, but is down to security concerns.”
Residents who lived within half a mile of Cranbourne Gate could apply for keys to the entrance, and many would flock to buy Christmas trees from a shop within the excluded area.
Other closed gates include the Sandpit Gate, Woodend Gate and South Forest.
No public consultation for public access being permanently retracted was held, but rather plans drawn up by the Home Office were signed off by Thames Valley Police and the Royal Household.
This is legal, as under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, Crown land belonging to the King or his immediate heir is protected.
The order, made by Dan Jarvis, the security minister, reads: “The reason for the designation is that the site was previously in use by non-protected tenants, so the designation of land and property was not needed.
“By the relocation of a protected principal residing at the Forest Lodge site, it reflects its use as part of the wider Crown Land within Windsor and therefore is appropriate to afford this site the same protection as other Crown properties designated under section 128 of the SOCPA 2005.”