At its meeting on Thursday January 26, members of Wokingham Borough Council’s decision-making executive will be recommended to give the green light to a request by Henley Festival of Music and Arts for the temporary closure of Footpath 4, Remenham.

The closure is necessary to facilitate the setting up of the July 2012 Henley Festival with both building the performance platform and holding the event itself.

Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for highways and transport, said: "The executive is aware of public interest in this event and will therefore be considering this at a public meeting. I will be recommending approval of the temporary closure to help facilitate this much-loved, world famous music and arts festival, which is highly valued by residents and brings many visitors to the borough."

As part of this request, a suitable alternative path will be available so that existing users of this small section of footpath will still be able to walk along the route with the minimum of inconvenience.

The request is for an 80 metre section of the footpath to be closed from July 2 to 4 and from July 9 to 10 to allow the festival staging to be constructed and dismantled without posing any danger to footpath users, and for a 488 metre stretch to be closed during the performances from July 4 to 8. 

On these days, walkers would be able to walk along a route parallel to the footpath but approximately 10 metresaway.