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Roads that once served a lost community could be severed forever.

The tiny fishing community of Dengemarsh, near Lydd, died out after the Second World War but the area has continued to be used by anglers thanks to the good fishing off its beaches.

They habitually drive down Dengemarsh and Galloways Roads, although only those with off-road vehicles can make it as far as the beach.

The roads are also used by tourists and Lydd locals thanks to the wild country they traverse.

A new Act brought in by the Government in 2006 will force the closure of both routes to all vehicles as they are considered to be byways.

Lydd Town clerk Richard Styles is masterminding an appeal against the ruling, which is going before DEFRA – the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

He said: “Those roads have been used down to Dengemarsh for donkey’s years. The Act came in in 2006 to stop people using byways for scrambling bikes and four-wheel-drive vehicles. These two routes have been included in that, as well as a footpath that runs across the beach.

“An application was put in to exempt them but it was refused and one of the things they said was that we could be exempt if we could prove there were motor traffic using them before December 1, 1930.

“KCC are responsible for part of that road and they would rather see it be returned to footpath so the maintenance can be reduced.”

Dengemarsh was used as the setting for a 1971 episode of Doctor Who entitled The Claws

of Axos, with Jon Pertwee.