Passed by. The sign that was on the western end of the area on Stubbing Brink saying permissive path (visible on Google Street View in April 2023) no longer present. Met a man at the gate on the eastern end at the top of the steps who informed me I was on private land so I turned tail back down to the canal. Path present on the ground (and well maintained). I couldn't see any signage either way at either end of the path about the path's present access status but evidently something has changed on the ground since April if the 'permissive path' sign has disappeared.