HBLRO is participating in the HCC 'Hampshire Paths Partnership' which is aimed at developing co-operation with voluntary organisations to assist in the mammoth task of maintaining access to our historic rights of way. Article about clearance on Hantsweb
See Also..
Worthy Down Clearance / Monxton Clearance / Shipton Bellinger Clearance #1 / Shipton Bellinger Clearance #2 / Denmead
Laning Trips
HBLRO members got involved in clearing Ashmansworth 18 in the North West of Berkshire as part of National Green Lane clearance day.
As from Tuesday 2 May
2006 all Roads Used as public paths (RUPPS) have been redesignated as Restricted
Byways (RBs). The intention to do this was first identified in the
countryside and rights of way (crow) Act 2000 and has now been enabled under
the Natural Environment and Rural
Communities (NERC) Act 2006.
It is now illegal to drive a motor vehicle on a restricted Byway
without lawful authority and doing so is a prosecutable offence.
This effectively means that it is no longer legal to drive any of the lanes
that were previously RUPPs in the UK. It is still legal to drive Byways Open
to all traffic (BOATS) and unclassified County Roads (UCRs) (White' roads
generally shown as other routes with Public Access (ORPA) on Ordnance Survey
Maps).
Some areas of Hampshire & Berkshire are more badly affected than others.Overall
there were approximately 220 RUPPs and 360 BOATS in Hampshire (not sure about
Berks) The RUPPs tended to be longer than the BOATS. Lanes that include sections
of RB will become dead ends or orphans. We
would of lost a lot more if the few select people had not put there time and
effect in to upgrading RUPPs to BOATS we need to hang on to what we have left
so please take care out on the lanes and stick to the green la code not to
give the antis more ammunition to throw at us.
Rights of Way - HBLRO
Vandalism of Restricted Byway (RB) signposts
Hampshire County Council (HCC) have started to replace the old Rights of Way signs used to indicated Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPPs) with Restricted Byway ones. Unfortunately there have been several instances where the new signs have been vandalised, presumably in protest against the imposition of the NERC Act and the blanket reclassification of RUPPs to RBs. This action has absolutely no impact on the situation and only serves to reinforce the impression that MPV users are a bunch of yobs. Ironically it is probably not the yob element who are doing this as they tend not to care where they drive and don’t understand what an RB is anyway. It costs HCC up to £500 a time to replace the vandalised signs and it is the rate payers of the County who foot the bill. This also takes valuable resource away from undertaking other work on the RoW network in the county. If you are aware of anyone who is doing this please tell them to stop; they are really not helping the cause.
Pathwatch
The Pathwatch scheme was initiated in West Sussex in 2006 and provides a hot line for members of the public to report illegal vehicular activities to the police (Google ‘pathwatch’ to find the relevant Southdowns web page). Hampshire has been monitoring the scheme and following a presentation by West Sussex Police, Hampshire has decided to establish a scheme of their own. A pilot scheme will be run in the Basingstoke area with the intention of rolling this out County wide if it is successful. Vehicular users groups (primarily the Trail Riders Fellowship) withdrew their support from the West Sussex scheme following the introduction of the NERC Act; the reason for this was that post NERC there were virtually no lanes with rights for MPVs left in the County. We should fully support the Hampshire initiative since it will help to reduce the illegal use which has given us all a bad name.
TROs
As you are probably aware, HCC are planning to place TROs on a number of lanes to prohibit use by MPVs. Below is copy of the letter sent to the TRF outlining HCC’s intentions:
In response to your enquiry to Andrew Smith, please find below a listing of the routes currently under consideration and the action that we have taken or intend to take in the near future:
No Action in the short term - monitor activity and surface wear
Clanfield 702
Hawkley 745
Hordle 501
Hordle 743 / Sway 9
Langrish 17
Langrish 19
Twyford 16
Chilcomb 3 – will only ever be a Restricted BywayTemporary TRO extended from 24th June 2008 (new Orders already in place)
Ashmansworth 18 – 12 months to allow for repairs currently under way to bed down
East Meon 42 – Halnaker Lane – 6 months to allow for making of a Permanent TRO
Farringdon 25 – 6 months to allow further time for new surface to bed down and then reopen
Four Marks 25 / Farringdon 26 / Chawton 10 – 6 months to allow for making of a Permanent TRO
Rockbourne 32 (east of the Rockbourne Road)/Whitsbury19a – 6 months to allow for making of a Permanent TRO
Martin 38 / Rockbourne 32 (west of the Rockbourne Road) – 6 months to allow for repairs and then reopen
Apply for Permanent TRO for ALL Vehicles (we will advertise our intention to make Orders in Summer 2008)
Buriton 45 - Currently open to all traffic
East Meon 42 – Halnaker Lane (Depending on outcome of Inquiry to be held 16th September 2008)
Hawkley 24 and 26 – Standfast Lane – Seasonal Only (November to April)
Four Marks 25 / Farringdon 26 / Chawton 10
Rockbourne 32 (east of the Rockbourne Road)/Whitsbury19a
The way ahead will depend partly on the outcome of the LARA challenge to the Yorkshire Dales National Park who has placed TROs on a number of major routes in the park. Dave Tilbury (TRF/LARA), Sean Fosberry (TRF) and I are in discussion with HCC and are seeking a way ahead that is acceptable to all parties. We will be attending the Public Inquiry for East Meon 42. We will keep you posted.
DMMOs to reclassify RBs as BOATs
The stirling work undertaken
by Sean Fosberry of the TRF to raise DMMOs for about 200 lanes in Hampshire
has ultimately resulted in a Judicial Review instigated by some affected landowners
against HCC (see http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2008/431.html for
the detail - a gripping read!). The case centred on the definition of what
constituted a well formed application. Although the review found against HCC
in that the applications were deemed not to be well formed, it appears that
HCC still have the discretionary power to accept them if they want to. HCC
are yet to decide whether to return the applications to Sean or not –
so watch this space.
National Green Lane Day
The next NGLD is scheduled for Sunday 26 October. We do not have a target lane yet but I am working with the new Hampshire Paths Partnership (HPP) officer (Justin Harvey) to identify a suitably overgrown specimen that is worthy of our attention.
Glossary
BOAT Byway Open to All
Traffic
DMMO Definitive Map Modification Order
HCAF Hampshire Countryside Access Forum
HCC Hampshire County Council
HPP Hampshire Paths Partnership
LARA Land Access and Recreation Association
NERC Natural Environment and Rural Communities (Act)
NGLD National Green Lane Day
RB Restricted Byway
RUPP Road Used as a Public Path
TRF Trail Riders Fellowship
TRO Traffic Regulation Order
Produced by Patrick Manuel
Motorised Users Representative on the HCAF
Hampshire Area Rep for GLASS
Wessex Hillrunners Rights of Way Officer
Just a quick note to say a massive thank you to all the people who turned out today to clear the UCR at Droxford today in far from ideal conditions.
The north end of the lane was transformed beyond all recognition; its width being at least tripled in places. The massive mud lake, that would have been the envy of any festival goer, has been, if not emptied, at least reduced in depth by a significant amount. Several pinch points have been reduced and the whole lane is now pretty much 'shiny friendly', which it was definitely not before!
As far as I can tell from the soggy attendance sheets we had a total of 21 adults, 5 under eighteens and a dog (which got progressively muddier as time passed). There were representatives from at least the Discovery Owners Club (DOC), Green Lane Association (GLASS), Hants and Berks Land Rover Owners Club (HBLRO), Series 3, 90 & 110 Owners Club, Thames Valley 4x4 and the Wessex Hillrunners (I am sure someone will let me know if I have missed a club out!).
Thanks again.
Patrick
In the South East UK there are some 34,000km of recorded Public Rights of Way : less than 5% of this is available for motorised users. Most of those routes are several centuries old - cattle drove roads, abandoned turnpikes, winter routes for when the road in the valley was impassably muddy (but has since been tarmaced), and so on. These are marked as BOATs (byway open to all traffic) or RUPPs (road used as a public path) on Ordnance Survey maps.
