A Berkshire lane subject to a "conditional" closure
Motorised use of unsurfaced public roads is under pressure ; some environmental
groups see it as a "non-green" activity, some other groups of RoW users
do not wish to share a small part of the RoW network with motor vehicles.
Many landowners object to public access. Consequently all
sorts of tactics are used to try and stop-up these roads, legally or otherwise.
Sometimes there's even a slogan like "return the lanes to their
intended use!". I think even the 'antis' would be disappointed if
they were used to haul goods to market, timber to shipyards, ore to smelters,
drive cattle to towns etc etc.
But these are public rights for all to enjoy ! Our forefathers
laboured on these public roads as part of their compulsory parish duty,
yet those that escaped tarring are now being barred to legitimate users.
In the photo above, the lane was officially closed to cars 'to
preserve its character'. Despite that, it's changing rapidly ...
becoming an overgrown jungle unpleasant for the remaining users.
So I have become a member of the Green Lane Association (GLASS) - a UK wide group aiming to preserve our ancient rights. I'd like to defend the public's right to use these old roads for my children. Recent legislation (the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000) has introduced a cut-off date in 2026 for establishing which roads are to be recorded in the official records, or else lost forever. This has launched me into the world of researching historical legalities, presenting evidence to local authorities, and so on. Sounds dull - but I'm finding it interesting, not so very different from the many people doing their family tree research.
Anyway, many others are also involved and far deeper than I. Go and see their webpages for better explanations!
Apologies to any readers in Scotland, whose Rights of Way law
is very distinct from that of England & Wales. I know little of it
personally and can't hope to cover the subject.
Organisations
www.glass-uk.org/
Green Lane Association
www.laragb.org/main.html
Land
Access Recreation Association
www.trf.org.uk/
Trail Riders Federation - for two wheelers
www.highwayman.demon.co.uk/bandbt.html
Byways
& Bridleways Trust
www.bhs.org.uk/
British Horse Society - for four legs
www.rightsofway.org.uk/
National Federation
of Bridleway Associations
www.ctc.org.uk/
Cyclists' Touring Club -
for non-motorised bikers
www.ramblers.org.uk The Ramblers' Association. Although 95% of RoW are free of motors already,and walkers have new "rights to roam" over many thousand acres, the RA has a declared policy of removing motors from the countryside (I suspect if that is achieved, cyclists would be next?) . These are the people to talk to if you object to what I do. Aside from that, they're very well-resourced and can give sound advice on many Rights of Way and legal issues.
A dedicated association of "anti" interests is GLEAM
- the Green Lane Environmental Action Movement. They seem
to be more secretive though, for some reason, and it's hard to find
information on the web. The biggest mention is in the journal of
parliament - "Hansard" - where MP's declare themselves as members.
A similar but more local single-purpose organisation is Friends
of the Ridgeway ; find out more about them at
website.lineone.net/~friendsofridgeway/
Some other green laning / RoW pages ; there are many others !
www.lines-family.com/lanes/lanemain.htm
another Berkshire GLASS member
