If you ride in the Chesham area, read this

[Boolagh]

If you walk, ride, cycle, hunt in the Chesham area (part of the Central Hills) please read on.

Changes are to be made to the Bucks definitive map to turn three Bridleways into BOATs. This means they will be usable by, amongst others, Trail Bikers, who will make the Bridleway unsafe for other users, churn up the lanes and cause noise and damage.

The Bridleways are:

BUNNS LANE No 47 Chesham/No 19 Latimer

BOTTOM LANE - no 28

TRAPPS LANE -no 34

BUCKS County Council rejected the request to turn them into BOATS, DEFRA said the decision was wrong and overturned it.

A LOCAL GROUP ARE ASKING FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY TO TEST THE DECISION OF THE INSPECTOR

I have a sample letter (Word Document ) detailing all the salient facts addressed to Anne Davies, Head of Legal Services at Bucks CC.

If you would like a copy of the letter please PM me and I will send it on to you. If you feel you would like to write please use this as the basis of your letter.

It is important to take a stand on this - evidence such as the landowner who has farmed the area of Bottom Lane for 50 years seems just to have been ignored!

 

[flatcoat2]

This is happening all over the country. The Natural England and Rural Communities Act came into force March 2006. If you look at it you will see that although these BOATS must be recorded on the Definitive Map and Statement for that County in many cases they will become Restricted Bridleways.
This means that only riders, pedestrians and carriages can use them (as I am given to understand) ie as they were before the days of motorised vehicles. There are some exceptions and rules for this happening.
I suggest you talk to your county Rights of Way officer and look up the Act. (put NERC into google)