Chairman of Kingswear Parish Council, councillor Jan Henshall said that she first heard of a scheme to provide horse trails and footpaths around Kingswear, called the Peninsular Access Scheme, when she was attending an information session on community funding at South Hams District Council in October last year. Community funds of £4,875 were made available for community projects in Kingswear by the developer of the Maypool Youth Hostel in the parish. Cllr Henshall was told at the session that these funds had been "pencilled in for the Peninsular Access Project".

After learning of the scheme and over the following weeks, Cllr Henshall said she made frequent requests for a copy of the report and this resulted in a hastily convened meeting held in December last year. She said: “We were then presented with what amounts to little more than a summary of a series of proposals for footpaths and bridlepaths on Brixham – Kingswear peninsular with no real details provided.”

County and District councillor Jonathan Hawkins, a former chairman of the parish council, has confirmed that he, together with former councillor and vice chairman of the parish council, Annie Lovell, attended these meetings purportedly on the parish council’s behalf.

Cllr Henshall said that the council minutes contain no record of discussions regarding the Peninsular Access Project and no authority being given to any councillors to attend any meetings on the project. At the last council meeting, she said: “I am tired of councillors and an ex-councillor going behind the council’s back to promote a scheme that has not been brought before the council in the proper manner.

“I am discovering, years later in this case, that the parish council’s presumed involvement in the Peninsular Access Project was because officers spoke to Cllr Jonathan Hawkins instead of writing to the parish council in the proper manner.

“As I have repeatedly stated, the parish council were not invited to participate in the Peninsular Access Project, no member of the Area for Outstanding Natural Beauty attended a parish meeting and outlined the proposal to members. There has been no discussion of these proposals at any time in the period since 2012 when the project first apparently began.

“As a consequence, there is no record of this project, discussions of this project, or a vote in support of either involvement with the proposed project itself or any paths purporting to be put forward by this council.”

Cllr Jonathan Hawkins said: “The parish council have been kept fully informed all the way through. This has been ongoing for many years but when it first started the current chairman was not chairman and not involved in planning.”

A spokesman for South Hams said that in response to questions about community funds for Kingswear projects they would defer to Cllr Hillary Bastone, South Hams executive portfolio holder for customer first. He explained: “South Hams, as the planning authority, manage any community funds that are collected when development projects take place in the district.

“We have made a commitment to spend these funds on projects considered appropriate in towns and parishes. However, projects may be identified by officers, members, town and parishes or other organisations.

“On the peninsular, which includes Noss on Dart and Kingswear, a project group was set up a number of years ago, with the aim to improve communication links across the peninsular. It was called the Peninsular Access Project.

“A working group was initially set up led by the AONB team and included organisations such as the National Trust. When it was established, the then chairman for the parish council and their councillor responsible for planning, regularly attended the meetings and reported back to the parish council.

“Individual schemes identified by the group have been listed as schemes which could benefit from community funds available.

“In December 2017, the AONB team presented the list of schemes to the parish council and asked them for their continued involvement. To date there is no final project document and it is very much the AONB’s desire that the parish council are involved in the Peninsular Access Project.”

The parish council has written to the leader of South Hams Cllr John Tucker asking him to explain how the parish council’s name has been appended to the report, entitled Peninsular Access Project, without their knowledge or input. The document was produced and written by South Hams and the AONB and names a steering committee made up of a number of organisations as contributors, including the parish council and was first put together in 2012.

Former parish paths co-ordinator on behalf of Devon County Council and also co-ordinator of the definitive map review, Cllr Henshall said: “I would have expected the AONB to have written to the council and requested permission to outline the proposals by attending a meeting of the council and inviting our support, this did not happen.

“It is difficult to see how we can agree to support these proposals without receiving the full information contained in the report. There are obvious implications for the parish council, as land owners may wish to hold us to account for our presumed involvement.

“We will get to the bottom of this and ensure the funding is correctly used and its use is endorsed by the parish council. It cannot be used for people’s ‘pet’ projects.”