tarmacked bridleway!!

Molly'sMama

Molly'sMama

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I live/keep horses in semi rural location in Bedfordshire- we have a few good hacking spots, most need ten mins of roadwork, which is ok. One of the only routes without roadwork is literally opposite my yard, we cross a field and then go through a wood, which is clay+woodchip.

Well. Was.
A friend was driving through and saw rubble, on closer inspection she saw that f the path has been tarmacked!!
It's the only nice canter track in the area, and now obviously isn't suitable!- it has been 'roadified' !

Can anything be done? People are contacting BHS/local council come Monday / bridleways officers- but as it's down now, can anything really be done? It's down and set, apparently if it's still 'useable' it's legal... I havent seen it yet but will tomorrow, think I will cry when I see it. :(

Why do people do this ? :( It's now horrible for hackers and dog walkers, and also will be terrible in winter
 
But it's gone from a soft, sheltered canter track to essentially a road? The pony already doesn't have shoes, but you can't canter down a road .. can't see how it's a good thing in any case, really? x
 
A bridleway is not a canter track - it is a route that give you access. The owners can do what they like to it - provided you can still use it.
 
Not much consolation but a track near me had stones laid on it as it always got churned up with mud - horrible to ride on but now a couple of years later the leaves from the trees are forming a layer over them.
 
I dont understand why you say it will be horrible in winter, surely if its been tarmacked it will stay dry and un rutted all year round. Some of our local bridleways become completely unusable in winter, we 're on clay as well. If it is still a bridleway, still off the main road I honestly cant see what the issue is. Im not sure a bridleway has to be a canter track does it, in fact our local forest has permissive routes through it and they are purposely gravelled or tarmacked as they dont want people racing round. Whilst I do understand some people do like to canter and gallop about it can actually be quite dangerous to those users who are a bit more sedate. Actually, just today I have noticed one of the bridle tracks I use quite a lot has had quite a lot of rubble ground into it, its perfectly safe to walk and trot on but you wouldnt want to go any faster. This is a track that gets absolutely filthy in winter and Im not sure whether the landowner or the council have carried out the work. It will definitely help with the drainage.
 
We had this happen in our area last year and the bridleway in question had a steep slope. I contacted the Right of Way officer at our Local Authority and put it to them if a horse slipped on a slippery tarmaced hill it would lead to a claim against them. A couple of weeks later half of the width was restored to a softer surface.( It was a very wide bridleway)

Is there any way you can argue that it is dangerous and that any accident could lead to a claim against them?
 
I can see where you are coming from op. It's not nice to loose a good route. Tarmac will be slippy in winter ice and your stuck to a walk and small trot. It also encourages bikes and cars that were unable to access it before making it less safe. I'm not sure that much can be done though.
 
To be honest i'd be happy to have a bridleway that didn't get churned up in winter and could be easily used all year round.
 
You can canter a barefoot horse on tarmac. The concussion is no different to any hard ground ie an impacted footpath. I'd see it as a positive actually as it won't be a muddy slippy mess. Ok if it's icy it will be slippy but so will every other surface.
 
With our horrid clay that sounds a god send!

Shh, I canter my shod pony on surfaced tracks with very solid bases ;)
 
I suppose I'm just worry about the cyclists speeding through,we'll have to see how it goes. It was just nice to have one completely natural track even if it did get muddy.
 
OP I share your sense of loss; no I don't agree with some others on here who say it is a "good thing" that the BP has been tarmacced. No it is not!!

Sadly it happened to a BP here a few years ago now; we used to colloquially call it "Muddy Lane" - coz that's what it was, even in a dry summer, and if you were the one cantering behind you were the one that got splattered in mucky, peaty, gunge.

Now its tarmacced over and there's only a few of us oldies who remember good old "Muddy Lane". No one made an outcry at the time, so it stayed the way it was. The BP itself is right in the middle of a very "posh" and exclusive residential area which is probably why it got tarmac put down. Money talks unfortunately.
 
Sometimes it can happen to allow wheelchair access, making the countryside more accessible to all users is one of the targets for councils.

We have quite a few which while not tarmac have had a very rough hardcore laid for this reason and also if there is a lot of pressure from walkers if it gets very muddy. Cyclists don't seem to mind hardcore as they can get up speed. Horseriders are the only ones that don't mind a bit of mud but don't like surfaces that are too hard.
 
Is it definitely tar as as opposed to compacted hardcore? The Woodland Trust have completed a lot of work near us in Fingle Woods and a riverside path is now compacted hardcore, I have no problem with this at all as now push chairs, wheelchairs etc can have access.
 
the local council have done 2 near us they say its so walkers and cyclists can have easy, safe access to and along it, there is a 2 mile long road that is on the os maps as a bridleway, its been a full spec road for 40 years that i know of . Sorry but you will be lucky to win against the council.
 
If you want to protest then you could argue that it will be dangerously slippery in icy conditions, in hot weather it will not be suitable for dog walkers (molten tar on pads), and generally will encourage motorcyclists to use it, endangering every other user. That said, if this was done to aid disabled access then I'm afraid you will just have to be glad of no deep muddy ruts.
 
We have a lot of hardcore tracks around our way and whilst initially we hated them, they are lovely in winter as they soften slightly so you can have a steady canter on them whereas before they were just muddy. Tarmac is totally different and I'd absolutely hate that.
 
a bridleway is a right of way and has to be usable as access, there are no rules saying it has to have a certain surface. Some around us are mud and impassable in winter, some are hard core and some are completely tarmacced - we use them all. We consider ourselves lucky to have bridleways- some counties have hardly any, and Scotland and Ireland none!
 
Tarmac isn't a bad surface for riding, especially the nice new black soft stuff. Shod horses do slip badly on it, but barefoot, you should be fine.
I have ponies who will refuse to gallop on hard earth, but have never had a problem on the road.
 
A landowner cannot change the surface of a bridleway without prior permission from the Council. And yes, someone wrote that they would have to get consultation from user groups before going ahead. OP have BHS bridleway officers in your area been contacted (I'm one for N Wilts)? Also the RoW officer for the council? Do fight it - you can change things!
 
UPDATE

It's because the fields, and wood have been sold to a new owner who want to use it for pheasant shooting, and so the bridleway needs to double as an access track?

however ... it's not a huge field or wood- how can we ride through a wood that people are shooting in???!?!?!? surely that's unsafe, but you cant shut off a bridleway, can you?
 
Molly'sMama said:
UPDATE
however ... it's not a huge field or wood- how can we ride through a wood that people are shooting in???!?!?!? surely that's unsafe, but you cant shut off a bridleway, can you?
Click to expand...

Where I used to keep my horses most of the hacking was through an area used for a pheasant shoot. I would just ask for their schedule and keep clear of the areas they were shooting. They don't shoot every day so you will still be able to hack.
 
I don't know, it just seems not thought through it really isn't a big wood and no one was informed that any of this was happening

I have pictures, just for interest I think it may actually be very compact hardcore. my friend said 'its like stones and then loose Tarmac type material, but hard!'
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slightlyconfused i will pm u if thats ok?
 
Shootings a big money-spinner round here and lots of the woods they shoot in have bridleways or footpaths going through them. They are meant to post someone at the public entrances (bridleways, boats, footpaths) when they are shooting to warn people. They dont shoot in the same place for long, one drive then they move on to the next place.
 
That't roadplanings (old tarmac that's been scraped off the road when they resurface it with new tarmac). A 20 tonne load is around £200 round here.

Over time, esp if driven on, it will either settle down into a sort of allweather surface in the winter/wetter weather, or get a bit more tarmacky/harder in summer/drier weather.

Most of our bridleways have had this treatment as it stops them getting muddy in winter so meakes them usable all year round with ease by walkers, cyclists and horseriders.

Plenty of bridleways pass through shoots. The shoots have a start/finish time on particular days so get the times/dates from teh landowner and then you have the choice - you can eitehr exercise your right as a member of the public to continue to use that bridleway at whatever date/time suits yourself (in which case the beaters and lookouts on the shoot will call the event to a halt until you are safely past) or you can choose to hack before/after/on another day.

If it's on agriculatural land then I think there's only the right to hold shoots on 28 days of the year too.
 
I'm surprised they were granted approval for that, did you see any signs? round here you cant put a track like that down without the ok from the council and even trying to stabilise a gateway by putting something down could get you in trouble if the material isnt to their liking or it extends out too far and becomes a track. A great black track like that slicing through the countryside is surprising
 
I'm not sure there's much you can do now as you can't say it will be dangerous in winter as its not tarmac :(

I would be so annoyed about it though as I know my barefootie would struggle on that at certain times of they year and he has great feet :(
 
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