Riders of Green Lanes pre 1980.

[Hugh]

Greetings,

I wonder how many folk on here today were riding the Peak District's Green lanes back pre 1980? Perhaps if it were not you personally you might know somebody else, father, uncle, friend, fellow club member!

I would be grateful if you would contact me direct to confirm details Privately and not to reply nor discuss this matter publicly on site. Thanks.

TTFN

Hugh.

[Hugh]

Greetings, and I think the expression is 'bump'.

I don't know if you have seen through other media sources but DCC are proposing to classify the whole of Broadway Lane and Bultor Lane as Bridleway. The route is often used to link the areas around Millers Dale, Taddington and Brushfield together. There are other lanes in the area that we previously lost access to through NERC to become Restricted Byways.

We might have a chance to claim Presumed Dedication of vehicular rights if we could show at Public Inquiry that sufficient folk rode or drove the route unchallenged from the 1980's.

Please write a letter of Objection to DCC and if possible provide evidence of use. This proposal has come about because of a Definitive Map Modification Order claim raised some years ago, it has nothing to do with previous discriminatory DCC & PDNPA TRO's nor the separate route from Brushfield over to Monsal Dale via Putwell Hill (lost under a similar Order for classification).

TTFN

Hugh.

Broadway Bultor DMMO advert wide.jpg (115.19 KiB) Viewed 6572 times

Ps attachment alignment is to save space on screen.

[SHarper]

These ‘proof of use’ requests really do perplex me; surely the problem is that they are being used? If they weren’t being used, then they wouldn’t waste time and effort taking them off of us.
It’s a lane that I’ve used hundreds of times and I may have a photo or two of me and others on it, but they’re not dated and it certainly wasn’t in 1980.
Hugh, I salute your continued commitment to protecting these lanes.

[DavidS]

Is there not a way of going over the Park’s heads to object to this systematic destruction of the fully legal ‘byway’ system.
This must be beyond their reasonable powers.....or have they been given carte blanche?

[Hugh]

Folks,

These lanes, and sadly others to come, are not being pursued by the perverse desire of the Authorities, nor even others, to have us removed from the lanes. DCC, as are other Highway Authorities, is duty bound to investigate the DMMO claims regarding the status of these lanes. Quite simply it is a legal Duty placed upon them.

The routes either have Rights for us to use or we must prove our Right by dedication, eg unchallenged use over a set period of time. I have used them unchallenged since 1973, but I need others from the same time to stand along side of me. Unfortunately the two people with whom I mostly rode with at that time are now both deceased, some have moved away, others are no longer interested or have changed interests. There are some who have given statements in the past but found the process too intimidating so now we must look to find the others who rode in the time frame.

This is not magic, not imagination, but statistics to show the Inspector that upon balance we do have such Rights. At the Back Lane Inquest the collective efforts of PDVUG and GLASS were able to prove such use by finding enough of the people who had used the route. Sadly there were not enough to prove the same for Brushfield even though folk did attend the Inquest and others wrote letters of Objection. It takes time but it is worth it.

So I ask again, do you know somebody who does or used to ride or drive in the Peak District during the time frame from the 1980's or before? If you have ridden the lanes then please write to DCC and Object to the proposal.

TTFN

Hugh.

[johnnyboxer]

Is there not a way of going over the Park’s heads to object to this systematic destruction of the fully legal ‘byway’ system.
This must be beyond their reasonable powers.....or have they been given carte blanche?

Quite the opposite here in Yorkshire nowadays
We have a man on the Council whose job is solely on unclassified county roads
He is quite positive and will repair rather than close - often with us helping too
Only one that has closed recently is one with specific & special historic monument status
Others that were closed have been repaired & reopened
TRF are very active up here

[DavidS]

Is there not a way of going over the Park’s heads to object to this systematic destruction of the fully legal ‘byway’ system.
This must be beyond their reasonable powers.....or have they been given carte blanche?

Quite the opposite here in Yorkshire nowadays
We have a man on the Council whose job is solely on unclassified county roads
He is quite positive and will repair rather than close - often with us helping too
Only one that has closed recently is one with specific & special historic monument status
Others that were closed have been repaired & reopened
TRF are very active up here

We do have the same in East Sussex. Getting NP status over some of our lanes was worrying but things have been very positive, with good Group TRF work. We have almost blanket exemption from the winter TROs that get placed to stop the trashing 4x4s that would get them all closed for good.

While Hugh’s explanation was known to me, these closures almost always seem vindictive and hysterical rather than reasonable complaints based on proper research.

[Paul_C]

Is there any positive action which can be taken by riders who have only used the road for the last few years? I probably ride it once every two or three weeks. I've only seen the farmer at the one end once and he was fine. Had to make way for a farm vehicle on a couple of occasions at the Priestcliffe
end, received a friendly wave. Very occasionally walkers and cyclists with no issues, a Subaru Impreza once!

[Hugh]

Greetings Paul,

Anybody can respond to the DCC's proposal and I really hope that everybody reading this Post will.

The essential time frame is from 20 years prior to the DMMO being submitted so we are looking for folk from the 1980's or before to provide evidence.

I have sent a PM to you.

TTFN

Hugh.