A company linked to tycoon Trevor Hemmings is on a collision course with government over the opening up of a track to the public.

Ballaseyr Stud Ltd is taking the Department of Infrastructure to court seeking an interim injunction in a dispute over public access to the Donkey Track in Andreas.

It has warned that anyone entering the land will be trespassing and police will be called if they try to do so – and they will be committing criminal damage if they carry out any works there.

A court hearing is due to take place tomorrow afternoon (Friday).

The DoI says the Donkey Track, which runs between Bernahara Road and the A17 St Jude’s to Andreas road, is shown as the unclassified U72 road on the official highways map. It wants to open it up for walkers and mountain bikers.

Volunteers from the Green Lane Users Group approached the DoI in 2011 and asked if they would be permitted to clear the track.

Work started in 2014 and since then the department has carried out some work at its entrance and supplied materials for the volunteers.

But Ballaseyr Stud says there is no evidence that the disused and overgrown track was ever a highway maintainable at the public expense.

Director Kathryn Revitt, speaking from Ballavarry Farm which owned by Ballaseyr Stud, said: ‘There never has been a public right of way. We’ve gone back to the title deeds from 1800s and there is no indication of any form of highway there.

‘They want to open it up for the walkers and horse riders but also we believe for trail bikes.’

She said the Donkey Track is a wildlife corridor providing a refuge for a wide range of species but undergrowth has been cleared and trees cut back.

A letter sent to Ballaseyr Stud’s advocates to the Attorney General’s chambers said that previous infrastructure minister Ray Harmer had given a commitment that no works would be carried out.

‘It is disappointing that the department is now brazenly reneging on that confirmation,’ it states.

‘It remains our client’s position that the Donkey Track is not and has never been a highway.

‘Any person who enters the Donkey Track will be committing trespass.

‘Further, if works are undertaken then they will be committing criminal damage. Please be advised that the police will be called if any person attempts to enter the land.’

It says a plan for the Andreas parish records from 1869 show the Donkey Track as an ‘occupation road’ to two cottages and not a public highway.

Billionaire property developer Trevor Hemmings is a fellow director of Ballaseyr Stud Ltd which bought the 185-acre Ballavarry Farm including its dairy herd in October 2018.

The DoI says the status of the track is shown on the highway record map from 1986 when the Highways Act received Royal Assent and when responsibility for the track passed to the department.

It says Ballaseyr Stud bought Ballavarry knowing that the Donkey Track was a highway maintainable at the public expense.

A letter from the AG’s Chambers sent to Ballaseyr Stud’s advocates reads: ‘The department contends that the Donkey Track is an unclassified road with the term U72 which indicates it is not an A or B road and is a green lane ie unmade and unmetalled.

‘To open it up, which was a decision made a number of years ago, will benefit the public. The department intends to permit the volunteer group to continue its work on the Donkey Track.’

A spokesman for the DoI said: ‘The route will have very limited work undertaken to make it accessible to walkers and mountain bikers.

‘This will be enforceable by order. Works were started on the route some time ago with the consent of the landowner at that time.

‘The estimated cost of £5,500 is limited to materials as labour will be provided by volunteers.

‘The route is shown on historical maps dating back to the 1800s and appears on the department’s highway map.

‘When the property was most recently purchased, its presence was identified to the purchaser’s advocates as a highway maintainable at public expense.’