Cutting Bridleways - who does it?

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Our bridleways near Chester are getting stupidly overgrown. Even all the horses and walkers can't beat down the millions of nettles and thorny branches that are getting lower and lower. There's also 'rider friendly' (pffft!) gates dotted about but two of them are badly damaged and you can only open them if you dismount!

Tried ringing the council about it but I'm just getting fobbed off - anyone ever had any success on where to go for someone to even consider sorting them out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Honey08]

Try and find your local BHS access rep, our local one is pretty good at getting issues sorted. There should also be a rights of way person in the council, if you're getting fobbed off contact your local councillor?

If you can't find your BHS rep, let me know (PM me) and I will ask ours how to find others.

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Try and find your local BHS access rep, our local one is pretty good at getting issues sorted. There should also be a rights of way person in the council, if you're getting fobbed off contact your local councillor?

If you can't find your BHS rep, let me know (PM me) and I will ask ours how to find others.

That's great thank you. I've submitted two 'Public Right Of Way Concern' forms so far and had nothing. I've called and no one seems to know who I need to speak to. It's all very frustrating I will have a look on the BHS website now, thank you for that

 

[jrp204]

The responsibility of trimming footpaths/bridleways will sometimes be the Parish Councils who then invoice the County Council. Last thing I heard our CC were not going to pay towards it anymore so PC's have to find the money to do it which is causing massive problems.
Personally I would get a working party together and hit it hard over a couple of weekends, shows your appreciation of having them to ride on.

 

[Pinkvboots]

A few bridleways near us get blocked with fallen trees and branches, but if you look at what is in your way in more detail, the branches look like they have been placed there to block us which happens quite alot as every possible walkway we use will have some sort of branch accross it, annoying thing is when trees really do fall because they are spruce and so long its difficult to find ways around them, many are unsafe to jump as they have stumps sticking out of the trunk.

 

[BHS_official]

Just for future reference - you can find your local BHS Access Officers by visiting www.bhs.org.uk/bhs-in-your-area and checking out the committee lists on each region and county's page. They should certainly be able to help with the issues above.

If you'd like to get more involved with access in your area, we'd love to hear from you! There's plenty everyone can do to improve things for other equestrians - check out http://www.bhs.org.uk/access-and-bridleways/access-week for why it's so important and how you can help, even if you only have a few minutes free.

We hope you all see progress in your areas soon.

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Just for future reference - you can find your local BHS Access Officers by visiting www.bhs.org.uk/bhs-in-your-area and checking out the committee lists on each region and county's page. They should certainly be able to help with the issues above.

If you'd like to get more involved with access in your area, we'd love to hear from you! There's plenty everyone can do to improve things for other equestrians - check out http://www.bhs.org.uk/access-and-bridleways/access-week for why it's so important and how you can help, even if you only have a few minutes free.

We hope you all see progress in your areas soon.

That's great, thank you very much. I have sent an email to my local officer, however there was an auto reply to say she is out of the office until the end of May. I will wait to hear from her then

ETA: I will also look into the volunteering too!

 

[Honey08]

Just another thought, our BHS local officer has organised days where local riders have cleared things too, so it perhaps helps the council see that we aren't just expecting everything done by them and are prepared to meet half way.

 

[Reacher]

Our parish council formed a rights of way subcommittee - we did some work ourselves cutting back branches etc , as suggested above.
Because our bridleways were in such a bad state they needed ground works doing - multiple letters from different people had more of an effect than letters from letters from one individual and we have had a couuple of sections ditches cleared out and the rtacks resurfaced - it took about 3 years and I believe the parish council matched funding

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Thank you for this. I am just waiting on the reply from the lady from BHS and see what she says, then I shall be taking more action. Went on a ride on Monday and they are just getting out of hand now