Can you apply for access to ride?

[Paddy-Wac :)]

Where I am in Surrey, there is hardly any good hacking, and you always have to do a lot of road work. However, there is a park a short walk away that is used by walkers etc that is at the end of a bridle way. Can you apply for access to these sorts of places to the council? Has anyone done so? We really need new places to ride!

 

[OWLIE185]

I had this issue in London and we suceeded in negotiating with them (GLC at that time) in getting them to allow horse riders to use Hampstead Heath on specific tracks. We had to get an annual permit and display a numbered tag on our bridleway (free).

It was the local area British Horse Society that negotiated this for us and we used this facility for many years.

I would get in contact with your BHS access officer and have a chat with them about it. If you need their contact details then let me know your nearest town. Contact me by E-mail on peter.natt@btinternet.com

 

[RideYorkshire]

The BHS is definitely a good place to start - they have masses of experience of negotiating new access. But you can also contact the Public Rights of Way officer at your local council - there's likely to be one who knows your area well. It's a long, slow process to upgrade footpaths to bridleways and unfortunately the trend is often in the other direction. However the more people talk to their Councils about this, the better - riders too often get left out of consultations. Good luck!