Chris Beney, a dedicated campaigner for accessible public paths and a key figure in shaping British Standards for path structures, has died at the age of 93.
Key achievements in path accessibility
Beney served as a trustee of the Open Spaces Society for 30 years from 1996, and as its chair from 2018 to 2020. He was a member of the British Standards Institution's panel on structures on public paths from 1999 to 2020, chairing it from 2005, guiding three revisions of the standard and securing agreement for the least restrictive option: gap, gate and stile, in that order.
In 2018, with Natural England, he helped establish the Centre for Outdoor Accessibility Testing at Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire, for testing gates and mobility equipment.
Early life and career
Born in London to Charles Beney, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, and Dorothea (née Pridden), a pharmacist, Beney enjoyed a rural childhood in Kent, Surrey and Somerset. His first memory of injustice was the Crystal Palace fire in 1936, just before his planned visit.
After a student apprenticeship with General Electric Company, he studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he met Hazel Goodman, an art student; they married in 1957, a year after his graduation.
Engineering contributions
With an MA in electrical engineering, Beney worked on air-to-air missile computers at GEC Stanmore. At Boscombe Down, he helped build an airborne digital navigation system in the De Havilland Comet, later used on Concorde, and was project manager for the Concorde flight-test-replay system. He also led a team in flight trials of Meteor and Canberra aircraft, once surviving a snowstorm landing where the pilot lost control: 'The past does flash before you,' he said.
In 1977, he founded Yeneb Pattinson Ltd to build and repair computers, retiring at 55. In 1986, he established the Pittecroft Trust to support projects like an unsegregated school in Northern Ireland and access initiatives.
Local campaigning
Living in Bushey, Hertfordshire, Beney campaigned against noise at Elstree Aerodrome, founding the Association for the Containment of Elstree Aerodrome. His path activism began in the late 1980s when spectators were challenged for watching an airshow from a public footpath; he researched the law and found they had done no wrong, leading him to establish the Bushey and District Footpaths Association in 1991.
Beney is survived by Hazel, their three children Joanna, Charles and Grace, and four grandchildren. A fifth grandchild predeceased him.
