Lake District National Park Authority - Well done!

I got mine today as well - but did you read the bit that said all 31 closed to motors on May 2nd Matt?

Its a lesson in how to deliver bad news clearly and objectively. So many councils can't be bothered and have relied on misinformation and obfuscation to avoid reclaasifying lanes over the last 20 years. Still a shame that over 30 lanes have closed - of which 10 were rubbish, 10 were average and 10 were stunning. I'm crying into my beer at the loss of these.

Surely not? I thought all the UCR's and BOAT's remained open and only RUPP's closed. Are you saying that every lane in the LDNP is no longer driveable?

Sorry - let me clarify. There are still 76 routes still open. Last month the LDNPA notified that 31 dual status byways and RUPPS were going to be closed. We all thought it would take 6 months - it didn't. The National Parks got their skates on and downgraded these routes to Restricted Byways last week. On a RB you can ride a horse, ride a mountain bike or drive to your house or business. You just can't drive a Landy down it for fun :(

There's still plenty to drive, my concern is that now there will be more use of fewer lanes. Beware all - this rotten Government and the strong Ramblers lobby hasn't stopped putting the squeeze on our activities - so get out there whilst you can! Wales will follow this summer, probably July time.

Out interest - NERC reduces lane mileage from about 5% of the non-tarmaced network to 1.8%.

How you getting on with the Landy BTW?

Meant to post this link too. Explains all..

Oh but perhaps you can drive your landrover down it for fun. I live on a bridleway and the residents have private vehicular rights. Other people who can drive on the track are called invitees..... the postman for example , or the Fire brigade. Well you dont actually invite the postman, he just comes, and if one were say for example bringing the "word of god " to the local residents or canvassing at properties ( are you intested in joining Glass Sir?) along the lane , you would probably get away with it. It might be worth looking into. Steve the grease

Nice plan which will work in some places - I checked the Cumbrian lanes and drew a blank.

Yes I did :-(

I agree, and I think places who run commercial 'off-road trips' along lanes are not in a small part to blame for this bill. I think we probably could have got away with things if the lane were being used for the very occasional private fun-run as it were by 2/3 landies, but they have been exploited and made regular use of by companies making money out of them. Now the legal lanes have been restricted even more it will just put pressure on those ones, and no doubt they will be exploited more, damaged more, and then closed for their protection!

Anyway, I still congratulate the council for providing this information - obviously not everyone hates us!

Matt

Indeed, personally I favour a "passport" style permit to use lanes, but of course it's impossible to police as the lawbreakers will ignore it, so the obvious solution is to ban the ones who don't break the law!!!

Still, it would make it much harder to run organised convoys for money.

One of the problems is that these places are still, in theory, public highways, and what we get are temporary closures to somehow deal with damage. Except that temporary is indefinite, and nobody seems to want to spend money on repairs.

And most of this territory in the Lake District is now open to the public under the recent open access legislation, which has the not-much- talked-about consequence of making them a "public place". So there's the farmer with his sheepdog, and the dog's running around unleashed in a public place, sometimes a heck of a long way from the farmer.

Sorry, I'm a bit grumpy today, but I'm not sure that "don't be silly about enforcing the law" is an adequate government response.

Not necessarily, Garburn Pass [now closed :-(] operated a pass scheme which had to be renewed monthly as it had gates with a combination lock, and the passcode changed every month. If they didn't like you they could always deny you a permit!

IMHO this sort of scheme is ideal for many green lanes.

Matt

What we do in the Dorset area is to go and do the repairs ourselves, this does require some co-operation from the council though so if the council is stuffed full of antis then that can cause problems.

Yep, the damage done to the countryside by rambler's cars, tramping feet, litter, gate-opening/closing habits, fence breaking, style breaking, dog walking etc multiplied a hundredfold over the damage done by off-roaders due to the numbers of them.. Not something that gets moaned about in the press. I've seen plenty of "please keep your dogs on a leash" signs when off-roading, not seen any regarding 4x4 use apart from on the ridgeway where there were seasonal advice boards.

Sounds good to me, although it seems that even that wasn't enough restriction if they've since closed it!!

Speaking of which, the Farmer who owns the fields around my parents house was telling Dad about the walkers who decided his field was a free-for-all. After being called out (again) by the Police because his cows were in the road, a BT engineer who was working up a pole nearby told the farmer that he'd see walkers come up to his fence, pull out a big pair of bolt croppers and snip through his fence from top to bottom so they could walk through the field. There is a right of way - and a style not 50 yards from where they had cut through the fence, but they had obviously decided (wrongly) that the farmer had put a fence up to stop them going through instead of actually looking at their map properly. My parents regularly have walkers stopping in their front garden to admire the view - despite it having private property written just about every where you can find (they actually climb over the sign saying private property to get into their garden!) There isn't even a public right of way within 500 yards of their house - Mum is soon out there and gives them a piece of her mind though :)

It's pretty typical of the arrogant attitude of the bobble hat brigade, they think they are always in the right and bollocks to everyone else.

What I find amazing is that they carry a pair of bolt croppers with them! For what other reason than breaking through gates/fences could they possibly have to take them on a walk? I'm sure that is some sort of arrestable offence unless you have a genuine reason to carry such an item. If it isn't - it should be!

Matt

Chances are they went there to cut the fence, probably because they think the style is in the wrong place. I've torn up posts and cut the locks on a few gates near where I used to live, because the farmer had deliberately blocked the byway with locked gates and concrete posts, this is leading onto cropped fields, no animals around.

Of course I checked I was right first, whether the ramblers are right in your case or not I have no idea.

We certainly don't want to go down the path of people having to explain how every item they are carrying has direct relevance to where they are right now, it's bad enough right now with Leatherman-type things, which are technically illegal due to locking blades.

In the vernacular I think its called going tooled up. Can't call to mind the actual offence but there definitely is one, punishable on summary conviction with a custodial sentence? BICBW

Bernard keeps finding them on the private road to the farm he lives at... "Well the paths a bit wet....." (It's nice green grass, it's the lambing/calving field).

You are allowed to remove any obstruction to a legal right of way, but common sense is required - not something the Ramblers seem to show much of though - letting a bull out is not sensible etc.

The style is actually in the right place, but whether the ramblers are right or not, does it matter? There is access to the field literally

50 yards away, it is not like their path was being blocked. I know some farmers are miserable old sods who will block/lock everything in sight to prevent anyone onto their land, and although that may not be legal - I can understand why they do it.

I quite fancy carrying a shotgun around with me all the time, but I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to do that!

Matt

Boltcutters aren't that lethal, although they can be used up to 21 times to discourage people ;-) 20 times with women.

But do you really want to be quizzed as to why you're driving your 4x4 for a given trip and not a smaller car? Oh right, we're already at that point!!

|| In the vernacular I think its called going tooled up. Can't call to || mind the actual offence but there definitely is one, punishable on || summary conviction with a custodial sentence? BICBW

Used to be called "going equipped" - useful way to nick a scrote who carries a jemmy in his jeans pocket who hasn't actually burgled someone - yet.

So if going equipped for burglary is a crime (as burglary itself is a crime), then carrying boltcroppers on a country ramble with the intention of damaging property must surely be a crime too. Except that whereas Johnny Chav might have to explain and justify all the contents of his pockets to the Police, it is highly unlikely that Tarquin McRambler would have to do the same. "Boltcroppers? Dynamite? Portable thermonuclear device? Fair enough. Mind how you go, Sir."