Why is Hampstead Heath so bike-unfriendly

Prowlus

Looking at the Heath (London) , This park has so much potential for xc trails but the local council has restricted bikes to only the paved areas. Are they that worried about us mbers going all "Northshore" over the place ? Very counterproductive for a London council to discourage cycling in such a nice preserve

Big Red S

It's not a london council, which is the problem.

The Heath is owned by the Corporation of London, but they have ceded most of the control over access to the local residents, most of whom are resident in Hampsted.

There are many committes and sub committes set up to effectively legislate on the allowed use of the heath, and most of these are Hampstead residents.

So they like horse riding, but not bicycles.

If you want to lobby someone, it's the CofL you want to talk to. I've spoken to the GLA before, but apparently they've no jurisdiction. I'm told it's a better time now to do it than before, but I've become disillusioned of late.
Now, I just ride there anyway when there's noone around.

xcracer

Yes, the northern section particularly would be good for a spot of MTB'ing. The main part is probably a touch too busy though.

You can't really knock the C of L too much though. They do basically give us the run of Epping Forest which is infinitely bigger and better than HH.