Solutions to the
Problem
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SOLUTIONS
(See the ‘Glossary’ page for definitions of the technical terms used
below)
A comprehensive solution
to the problem of 4x4s and motorbikes on green lanes is some way off – although
it is now discernable in the distance.
Two developments have brought the solution much closer than we could
have dared to dream when YDGLA was founded, in 2002. First came the Natural Environments and Rural
Communities Act (NERC), in 2006. The act put a stop to nearly all new claims
for Byways Open to All Traffic (BOATs), by abolishing the ludicrous, archaic
principle of allowing ancient rights for horses and carts to be the
justification for turning a green lane into a motor-vehicular route. Additionally, the NERC Act gives National
Park authorities their own powers to impose traffic regulation orders
(TROs). A TRO, prohibiting recreational
motor vehicles, may be imposed on any route if it is judged that the damage and
nuisance caused by vehicles outweighs the authority’s obligation to keep the
route open to legal users. NERC was, and remains, very good news. But it left a large number of applications
made by vehicle users for BOATs intact: the act set a deadline, and,
nationally, hundreds of applications beat that deadline. But an important legal case known as ‘The
Winchester Judgment’ substantially reduced the alarming number of
deadline-beating applications. The
When YDGLA was founded, in
2002, we never imagined that so much progress would be made, so quickly. But
the public mood in the Dales has turned out to be in harmony with the public
mood throughout the country. The
public’s mood can be gauged by the response delivered to a poll conducted by
ICM Ltd in 2004. A representative sample
of the general public were asked to agree or disagree with the following
proposition: ‘The use of recreational
motor vehicles on rights of way in national parks, and other areas of
outstanding natural beauty, should be banned so that people can go there for
quiet recreation, and so that the peace and tranquillity of the countryside can
be preserved for future generations. ’87% of respondents agreed, 8%
disagreed, and 5% didn’t know. Plainly,
Parliament was perfectly in tune with public opinion when it enacted NERC. And the Winchester Judgment has sent hundreds
of the applications that NERC missed, into oblivion. What remains to be done?
THE INAPPROPRIATENESS OF RECREATIONAL MOTOR VEHICLES IN THE
NATIONAL PARK.
The Dales National Park Authority
recognizes that it cannot simply apply a blanket ban on all recreational
vehicles on every green lane, right across the national park: it has to
consider each green lane, case by case, balancing its legal obligations to keep
the lane open to those with legal rights of way, against its primary statutory
obligation to protect and enhance the landscapes in its care. In our view, the
obligation to protect the landscape trumps the obligation to keep green lanes
open to 4x4s and motorbikes. The Park Authority
has made an impressive start on the lengthy job of working through the list of
green lanes in its care, considering the case for the imposition on each of them
of traffic regulation orders (TROs).
This has resulted in the welcome imposition of TROs on some of the most
vulnerable and beautiful lanes. But the
list of vulnerable lanes is by no means exhausted: there are still plenty that
need protection. TROs are expensive
items, and no extra government money came with the Park Authority’s new
TRO-making powers. Furthermore, although TROs are supported and welcomed by the
general public, they are usually contested by vehicle user groups: the legal niceties have to be scrupulously
observed.
In the Nidderdale Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Authority has no powers to make its own
TROs. The powers still lie with North Yorkshire County Council. NYCC must be encouraged and persuaded to
protect the green lanes in the AONB by imposing TROs on them, starting with the
most damaged. A valuable start has been made with the TROs on Blubberhouses
Moor (See Latest News). The network
of heavily-used green lanes around Scar House Reservoir should be next on the
list. A start has been made here
too. An 18 month traffic regulation
order was imposed, in August 2010, on the wrecked route from Scar House
reservoir, over Deadman’s Hill, to Arkleside.
(See Latest News, posted
Among the BOAT
applications that were initially thought to have escaped the cut-off date of 20
January 2005 imposed by the NERC Act, were applications for motor status on
some of the most beautiful routes in the Dales – Foxup Road, and Arncliffe
Cote, for example. However, the ‘
THE CONTINUING PROBLEM OF UUCRS.
Unsurfaced Unclassified
County Roads (UUCRs) were excluded from NERC.
These routes include some of the finest green lanes in the Dales (eg
Deadman’s Hill in Nidderdale) , yet their rights-of-way status is contested. Vehicle user groups assert that, by
definition, UUCRs bear rights for motor vehicles. DEFRA’s legal team, by contrast, insist that
the rights of way on UUCRs must be established, case by case. The process of finally clarifying the rights
of way status of each and every UUCR will take years, years during which 4x4
and motorbike users will take advantage of these lanes’ uncertain status, and
will inflict the now well-understood damage and nuisance: unless, that is,
traffic regulation orders are imposed on these routes. Both the National Park Authority and North
Yorkshire County Council have made a start in this direction. They must be encouraged to go further,
stopping only when the systematic imposition of TROs has made the whole network
of UUCRs out of bounds to recreational motor vehicles.
THE PROBLEM OF POLICING.
Green lanes must be
effectively policed. Naturally enough, at present, a hard-pressed police force
sets a rather low priority on catching illegal 4x4 and motorcycle users. But
things are changing. The weight of complaints from the public to the Park and
AONB authorities, and to the police, steadily increases. The police are
responding. Prosecutions for riding and driving on routes that have no
vehicular rights, for using vehicles that are not road-worthy, and for riding
and driving dangerously are beginning to be levelled. The vehicles of
persistent offenders may be confiscated – and even crushed. The police have
already held two days of action in the National Park, designed to raise the
profile of law enforcement, and there have been a number of successful
prosecutions. The NERC Act will make the police’s job somewhat easier: it will
clarify which routes are legal, and which are not.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
Numbers of decisions about
the final status of those green lanes that are still used by vehicle users turn
on evidence of the routes’ historic status. YDGLA conducts historical research
into the provenance of routes. The purpose of this research is to establish
whether any particular route has historic vehicular rights. Wherever we can show that the route was never
open to horses and carts, we can circumvent attempts to establish it as a
modern motor route. For example, we have
established that, in contradiction to the blanket assertion made by vehicle
user groups, at least one particular Dales UUCR was dedicated as a bridleway,
and therefore has no historic vehicular rights.
Highway and National Park
authorities have their own statutory obligation to investigate the historic
provenance of contested routes.
Investigations into a single route can take many months, and when the
results produce a public enquiry, and then an appeal to the secretary of state,
the months turn into years – as was the case with Gorbeck Road (see Latest News ). Obviously, YDGLA encourages authorities to
deploy resources adequate to the task of establishing the exact status of every
green lane in the Dales, but we recognize that, at present, funds will be hard
to come by.