Green Lanes….
Many articles over the years have been written on the problems with our un-surfaced road network. I have always had an interest in the old Green Lanes and lets face it, our business used them in the early days when we operated out on the North Yorkshire Moors before launching the LQ site.
I don’t get time to read all the articles written, but, I have not yet come across one which outlines the Legal responsibilities of a County Council’s Highways department.
We too have had problems with the Green Lanes in our area - who hasn’t!! So I decided to put fingers to keyboard and put my point across:
When I read the title of Mr Whittington’s article last issue covering Horse riders, Motor Cyclists and Four Wheel Drivers, I naturally assumed that his article would be nothing more than a dig at the 4x4s and Trail bikes using the un-surfaced vehicular Rights of way in our area.
To my surprise, Dick has made a valid point. In an ideal World it would be great if there was enough space for us all to undertake our chosen recreation without causing any disruption or inconvenience to others.
Although the current situation could be greatly improved upon, it would not be possible to restrict some types of vehicle from some of these roads due to the fact that the legal right of passage for all motor vehicles exists along them. Even if the Law was changed, how would it be Policed!
If I understand Dick’s letter correctly, he is having problems riding his horse along some of these un-surfaced lanes due to the ruts which have developed over the years.
I agree that the conditions of the ‘Green Lanes’ in our area are continuing to degrade, especially during the wet winter months. I too find it much more difficult to negotiate a Quad bike along some of these tracks due to the depth of ruts on some sections.
However, I do not blame the larger vehicles for creating such obstacles. It must be remembered that these un-surfaced vehicular rights of way are ROADS. These roads are detailed on the Definitive Map, which is a record of roads kept by North Yorkshire County Council.
Each year the Council submit a claim to Central Government for funds used for the upkeep of our road network. The amount of money paid is based on the mileage of each classification of road under their authority.
The definitive map was created over 40 years ago to help various authorities to calculate these figures.
As the Council is paid ‘per mile’ of each category of road it is very easy to work out how much they are paid for the upkeep of the un-surfaced part of the network.
In our area alone, we have well in excess of 50 miles of un-surfaced vehicular highways. It is advantageous for the Council to include as many of these lanes as possible in order to increase the funding they receive from Government.
Unfortunately, the spending on these roads has only been a fraction of the total money allocated for such repairs. As a result, many of these un-surfaced roads have fallen into a state of poor repair – the ruts which Dick has already described.
I can only presume that the bulk of the money which the Government has paid to the Council has been used for ‘alternative’ repairs – I’m sure they would argue that a new roundabout was of higher priority than grading off and repairing the drains on an old Green Lane.
To some extent I can understand their reasoning, however, they are bound by LAW to maintain our highways network to a standard which is safe and suitable for use.
I’m sure Dick will agree, many of our Green Lanes at this point in time do not meet this criteria.
The Council’s response to this may be that the level of use of the Green Lanes has increased in recent years, thus creating more wear and tear on the roads soft surface.
I would again agree, there are now 10x as many 4x4s on our roads as there were back in the early 1990s. This however, is no excuse, the Councils also have a legal obligation to maintain a highway to a standard which is suitable for the volume of traffic using it. Thus, if the number of people using a particular road exceeds its current capacity, they must upgrade the road accordingly – again using some of the funding which Central Government has already paid them!
On paper, it looks like it’s a closed case – the Councils just haven’t been doing their job properly. In reality, any attempt for us mere mortals to try and enforce the law and get them to fix these old roads usually proves futile.
This is the stage I was at 10 years ago, just banging my head against the wall trying to get the Councils to do what they were been paid to do, but to no avail.
I then tried a different angle. Instead of trying to get the old roads fixed, why not develop a managed, controlled site for 4x4 driving. This would help to get some of the traffic off the Green Lanes - mainly that of recreational use and help to create a bit of rural revenue too!
This idea was discussed at great length with the Forestry Commission and eventually, in September 1995 the Langdale Quest was launched. Many readers may link this name with the use of the Green Lanes – this is not true.
It has been agreed by the National Parks that the site does help to reduce the use of Green Lanes both in this area and across the UK. They have also acknowledged that Langdale Forest is the best location within the National Park for such activities to take place – its remote and rarely used for other activities.
It may well be considered by some that too many 4x4s use the Green Lanes in our area. This number would me much increased if the Langdale Quest facility had not been available over the past 10 years.
Currently, in excess of 2000 visits a year are made to the Langdale Quest by people with their own 4x4s and who live within 2 hours drive of the site.
I carried out a survey for the National Parks last year which formed part of our recent planning application. The results showed that if the site were to close 60% of visitors who own their own 4x4 vehicle would then use Green Lanes to fulfil their desire to off-road.
To sum up, in addition to the current levels of use of the Green Lanes, a further 1,200 4x4 vehicles each year would descent onto our local un-surfaced road network.
It soon becomes obvious that having a dedicated site for off-road driving recreation is a much more suitable and sustainable way of providing for such activities.
Personally, I believe that the Langdale Quest site is a great success, with many advantages:
Rural Employment and revenue.
Land diversification – a current aim of the Forestry Commission.
Enjoyment for 100,000s of children and adults.
A safe, managed and maintained site for people to undertake their hobby.
Currently the Langdale Quest site can only provide for 4x4 vehicles, although we would like to extend the use to other vehicle types.
It is inevitable that the use of Quad and Trail bikes on our Green Lanes is set to soar, due to the fact that sales of these vehicles has greatly increased over the past year – replicating the boom in 4x4 sales during the first part of the 1990s.
The Forestry Commission currently seem reluctant to allow any kind of broadening of vehicle type onto the site. Without the relevant permissions, our hands are tied when it comes to providing for this new growth in off-road recreation.
Since the article went out in July this year, the Forestry and National Parks have now agreed to at loast look at a proposal which will allow Quad Bikes onto the main Langdale Quest site. It may be that for the 1st year of so, they will only be able to use the same tracks as the 4x4s, but I am hoping that we will be able to set up some dedicated trails for the ATVs just like we have done for the 4x4s.
I’ll keep you posted!
Future plans..
When it comes to development, the plans we have for the LQ site have been somewhat frozen over the past couple of years due to the planning issues which keep rumbling on.
I can hear you say ‘that was all dealt with last year??’ well it was, NP agreed the LQ site was the best place for our off-road driving to operate and that a site based facility helped significantly to reduce the use of the Green Lanes.
Unfortunately, for the THIRD time in 9 years, they only issued a temporary permission? We have been asked to return to the planning board with a 4th application in March 2005. The good news is that the NP did agree that a 4th Temporary permission would not be granted, it would be either permanent or not at all!!
I do believe now, after all the NP have said and agreed to, that the closure of the LQ site is unlikely, lets face it, we have now operated the LQ in Langdale Forest for over 9 years without any written complaints to the NP. Not bad going hey!!
Now, because all this planning stuff has slowed down the development of our LQ site, we have had a bit of time to plan a few more ‘growth’ bits for the business.
Soon to open will be our new ‘Adventure Centre’ in Pickering town centre. We haven’t had a great deal of support from the Tourist Info Centres in the promotion of all our activities, so we decided to open our own TIC type shop.
Not only will tourists hoarding through the town centre (we all know how busy it gets!) be made aware that there are actually some adventurous things to do in the area rather than just go for a walk on the Moors, they will be able to plan a number of activities to do during their stay on holiday.
We have already signed up a number of ‘fellow’ activity providers in the area and we will be promoting and selling their activities too!
The aim is to significantly boost sales for our off-road activities and raise the profile of all activities available in the area!
If this works, and to be completely honest, I really can’t see why it won’t, it should create sufficient revenue for us to re-invest in the LQ site when the time ‘eventually’ comes!!
It’s one of our largest investment plans for a long time, it should also send a message out that we are in for the long haul.
The other good bit is that Pickering (believe it or not) does not fall within the National Parks planning boundary - so that takes them nicely out of the equation!
Club Fest 2004!! - book
on-line via Club X-treme page.
Finally, we have set the dates for our next Club Fest. This is your chance to come down and meet up with the other 1,103 Club X-treme members!!
We are putting on a load of extra activities for those who like the competitions or you can just go out and battle through the X-treme route - the choice is yours. All the standard routes will also be open and we are expecting a busy weekend!
Enclosed is an advance booking form, if you can make the weekend or just one of the days then advance booking helps us to know just how many vehicles to expect + it gives you a fast track briefing - no money to pay etc…
Site opening..
- Sept: 11,12,18,19 and 25th
- Oct: 9,10,16,17,23,24,27,30 and 31st (Club Fest in BOLD)
- Nov: 7,14,21 and 28th
- Dec: 5th and 27th
- Jan 2005: 2,3 and 16th
More dates WILL become available, we just don’t know them yet!! Please check out the web site for updates.
BIG X-mas give away
AGAIN this year, on Boxing Day, Jan 2nd and 3rd, one person from each vehicle using the LQ site will be entered into a free draw - the main prize is £125 worth of ropes, strops and shackles + FREE entry to the LQ site for 1 whole year - an X-pass!!
This draw costs nothing - just come down, use the site and we will enter you into our first ever prize draw! The winner will be contacted by telephone shortly after the last day.
Next News Letter:
Due to the massive number of club members, we are now making plans to have the news letter available on-line via our web site.
If you would like to continue to receive your news letter by post then please let Emma know and we will ensure it is posted out in the normal way.
Until next time>
It has been a busy year for the site, many Club members visited the site during August (not normal!) probably due to all the rain we have been having. It was great to see those of you on site. The X-treme route is slowly developing - it you doing all the work! Some sections which used to be quite passable last year are now fast becoming winch only sections!
We are currently on the look out for 2 members of staff:
- Weekend patrol/recovery man - some experience would be good!
Full time mechanic - time served and prepared to work on some pretty muddy vehicles, sometimes thru the NIGHT!!
If you are interested please give the office a call and we can meet up to discuss things further.
Well, that’s about it for now, keep sending in your pictures and things for sale, our new web site still has plenty of space for your stuff!
Cheers for now
Andy Young and the rest of the team at Moorland Adventure Sport.
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