Highway to Hell?

In Autumn 2011 the BBC ran a short series looking at threats to the country's National Parks. One of these looked at the conflicts caused by off-road vehicle users driving on 'green lanes' for recreational driving. It's no longer available on iPlayer, but the programme's web page is still up, with some information and clips.

Green Laning involves navigating roads which are know as 'Byways Open to All Traffic' (BOAT). These are usually unpaved roads, looking more like a Bridleway or even a footpath, but which are legally open to all road users. Getting a 4x4 or trial bike down these can be a challenge, which makes Green Laning a popular activity for owners of off-road cars and bikes. Fairly predictably however not everyone loves the idea of cars navigating these lanes, with campaigners saying the practise damages the environment and endangers the safety of other users of the lanes.

The issue first came to my notice when it was featured on Countryfile (OK, so Sunday night telly isn't just about Top Gear for me, live with it!), which featured a pretty one-sided debate weighing down heavily on the side of Green Laning's detractors. The National Parks programme, based in my beloved Peak District, was much more even handed - but no side came out of it smelling like roses. Like the stuff you use to help your roses grow perhaps! The anti-Green Laners were a bunch of classic Middle England NIMBYs, determined to stop the use of the lanes for any activity not endorsed by their good selves (picking berries to make sloe gin = good; anything with an engine = bad). The Green Laners started out trying to engage, but after getting the full force of people's angry they instead fell back to resting on the legality of their hobby. Relying on what are fairly antiquated laws that were never intended to allow Land Rovers on country lanes just didn't seem like a particularly safe strategy. In fairness to the National Park Authority they were stuck in the middle doing what seemed a good job of dispassionately taking each reported issue on a case-by-case basis and trying to find solutions. This inevitably led to both sides deriding the authority as ineffectual and biased to the opposite camp.

What bothered me most about the programme though was the desire among Green Laning's opponents to see it stamped out in its entirity. The Peak District Green Lanes Alliance (PDGLA) campaign group seems, for example, to indicate that it accepts a blanket ban isn't possible - but it lists its primary aim as being to, 'campaign for the exclusion of mechanically propelled vehicles, driven or ridden for pleasure (‘offroading’), from the green lanes of, primarily, the Peak District.'

Now, I may write this blog as a motorsport fan, but that isn't where my interests end. I walk most weekends, especially in the Peak District. If you met me on a walk you'd think I'm very much the stereotypical rambler - big boots, map case, flask of tea, bobble hat, vaguely-lost-but-refusing-to-admit-it, that kinda thing. Last year alone I spent many fine weekends walking in the Peaks, from Matlock in the south up to Castleton and Edale. I've been known to mountain bike too - but this really is too much like hard work for me, so I stick to the walking. So I'm certainly not simply a petrol-head demanding the natural environment be turned into a vehicular-playground. I'd lose as much from that as anyone. In all my walks however I have only come across Green Laners once. It was a group of trial bikers, on a lane at Dirtlow Rake near Castleton. I wouldn't say the group went out of their way to doth their helmets to us - but they certainly didn't cause my group of walkers any more hassle than a group of mountain bikers or horse-riders would have.

In many countries National Parks are almost pristine and untouched landscapes, sheltered from human contact and often greatly restricted. In the UK our parks are a more human environment, with towns and villages, and a much wider recreational use. They have huge natural beauty sure - but people are also a key part of their charm. We also dedicate more of our land to our parks than the vast majority of other European countries - not bad for a 'crowded' little island. Visitors are encouraged and the environments are there to be enjoyed by us all. And that's where the campaigns against Green Laning are, in my opinion, at their most dangerous. If one group of users is banned from accessing National Parks (or any environment) a precedent is set that can then be used against others too.


Erosion is a concern in all popular recreational environments - walkers and cyclists cause huge erosion to the Peak District (see this photo of Peak District erosion too). Who is to say these groups won't be the next to get restricted? On the recently reopened sections of the Monsal Trail there have been complaints about cyclists riding without consideration for other users. Again, if one user group is banned, who is to say more can't be in the long term? I'd be surprised if many farmers and landowners aren't keeping an eye on this issue too. If 4x4s can be banned for causing erosion, why not walkers for damaging crops and fields or threatening livestock? We are living in times when our ability to access the countryside for our leisure is being extended ever more, with Open Access areas, new footpaths and better facilities for all groups. We should be celebrating this and finding ways we can work together to ensure this trend continues for many years to come.

All the above may sound like a monologue against those who don't like Green Laning. It isn't intended to be. The groups involved do have many valid concerns which deserve to be heard. My issue isn't with the fact that different groups have concerns, but only that the way to rectify these concerns is to involve the Green Laning community rather than seek to ban it. I hope the Green Laning community does find ways to engage with such groups to find ways of working together where possible.

This spur to write this blog came from a link I spotted to a consultation currently being run by Derbyshire County Council (which covers most of the Peak District), which is gathering feedback on their new Policy for the Management of Motorised Vehicle use in the Countryside. To my eye this looks like a good effort at balancing the use of the countryside for all the different groups that wish to have access, with reasonable provisions for monitoring different routes to assess damage being caused. The coucil has a survey which is available for anyone to complete to give their views on the proposed policy. I would encourage anyone with an interest in this problem to fill it in (it takes 5 minutes at most) and help contribute to a lasting solution.