Changing Public Footpath to Bridleway (and cycle route)

Iwingstein

Darn it, just deleted post.

Anyway what it was asking was whether anyone had ever tried changing footpath to bridleway (and therefore to cycle use).

We have dozens and dozens of miles of paths that never seem to have anyone on, and it'd be nice if they saw a bit more useage

Cheers

Simon

BorisSpencer

Good luck. The Ramblers will automatically object to any such application, and so possibly will the affected land owner. Find out who your council Rights of Way officer is, and contact them.

spongtastic

and then find out that the land owner is a friend of councillor numpty, who happens to be in charge of environmental policy and travel, but still blocks the change.

In most cases you've got more chance of seeing the Queen pulling a moony on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

bomberesque

Spongtastic, you have tried and failed and this is your experience? Or this is just what you expect?

Look, the ramblers et al didn't get the access they have by deciding it wasn't worth applying and waiting instead to see the queen's @rse. Go for it and good luck, let us know how it goes, it would be nice to hear some good news, it may even spur others into trying the same in their area.

spongtastic

Bomberesque - This is my experience from both outside and inside the system.

A couple of examples - I tried to get a road to a County Council owned property changed to a bridlepath, this would have provided more of a chance of getting my local town linked directly to major routes following a failed Sustrans bid, preventing the need to cycle on a very busy main road with an appaling accident record. This failed because the neighbouring land owner objected to the possibility of cycles passing by his property 250m away.

A local authority has part of the national cycle network that has yet to have the exact route formalised, but is shown to run through a supermarket car park and the supermarket itself. It takes 3 years to get this moved following complaints by 2, yes 2, local residents that it will encourage people to cycle past their houses and will increase noise and vandalism. Their house is on another road, next to a school. The residents write letters to the local press and councillors etc, stirring up the type of campaign that makes cyclists look like baby killing psychopaths.

I could provide many more but I think these two show how difficult it is, they're certainly not the worst, in many cases the words 'NIMBY' and 'two faced' comes to mind

What is needed is a wholesale change in the laws for access to public footpaths to allow cycles to use them, and by footpaths I don't mean the ones you find by the side of the road, I mean the ones that have always linked different communities but are now in danger of being forgotten through lack of use. A bit of mass tresspass anybody????

theblender

Just ride the footpath anyway, if anybody complains to you about it, just be polite.

Changing it to a bridleway will mean horses can use it, which means it will get cut up and turned into a permanent bog, with the added risk of spooking horses. MX riders will probably start using then also.

I think cycles should be allowed on footpaths, plenty of off road cyclists have ridden them over the years with no problem or conflict. I actually get more grief from riding on bridleways/byways than I do on footpaths.

solsurf

It can be done and is being done, there are many places in the lakes that lend themselves to being bridleways, its not easy but there is a process that takes time. A lot does depend on the local authorities pro active nature (or not) to change things for the better.

bomberesque

Spongtastic; thanks for the clarification, you sounded rather like a "OMG that's a daft idea" interweb moaner but I bow to your real world experience. NIMBY seems to get everywhere....

as for "wholesale change in the laws for access to public footpaths to allow cycles to use them" I would heartily agree. The legislation as it stands is so grudging (bikes have access to bridleways but must give way to walkers and horses if i recall the wording correctly) as to seem completely disingenuous.

Boris for PM, then we might actually get some bike friendly legislation!

actually sod that, Peaty for PM! much better idea.

I still say go for it. if local councils receive regular applications they can't continue ignoring the public will forever surely. What trail access advocacy group is out there and worth getting involved with?

spongtastic

Alas I don't think there's a cycling version of the Ramblers, perhaps Bike Radar should form one? We could have a mass tresspass at Bike Radar Live!

But as mentioned above I think it helps if the locals are proactive. Unfortunately where I am they're not.

theblender

spongtastic wrote:

Alas I don't think there's a cycling version of the Ramblers, perhaps Bike Radar should form one? We could have a mass tresspass at Bike Radar Live!

But as mentioned above I think it helps if the locals are proactive. Unfortunately where I am they're not.

Isn't the CTC the equivalent?

Iwingstein

I emailed the council and got the following:

"Thank you for your email.
I will forward your request the (West Kent) Countryside Access Improvement Plan Officer.
Kind regards
Countryside Access Service
Kent Report Line Tel: 0845 3450210"

If you live in Kent, email prow@kent.gov.uk (prow stands for Public Rights of Way) and lets get some momentum going. The rest of country prob has similar so find our yours and contact them.

I'm sure if they get 1/2 million requests, they'll be looking at voting numbers and going "Hmmm". If they get three emails, that'll be three for the bin!

Get to it