Club 80-90 Forums

Following a mail from the TRF, In case anyone is interested in going along and supporting. I want to go if I can get away.




Dear Member

This is a request I put out on the TRF Forum a couple of Nights ago.......some of you may have received it already or seen it posted.

I cannot stress how important it is that we put a big effort into this demonstration on Friday the 25th January. Our Big Guns are going to be in that meeting saying their piece. I want them to know they have the support of the rest of us outside those offices ........and we need the Park Authority to know that if they do not sit back and listen they will have one hell of a fight on their hands....It’s the start of the New Year........use one of your holiday days to good effect and show these people just how much the lanes are worth to you.

Thanks in advance

Mike Irving
Communications Director TRF

AND IF YOU ARE READING THIS EMAIL AND YOU SHOULDN”T BE.......GOOD.......BECAUSE NOW YOU KNOW WHATS COMING....

The TRF victory over the PDNPA and the Chapel Gate ETRO could be short-lived because the Authority has a meeting arranged for the 25th January at the PDNP Head Office to close it again.

I know its a Friday but its vitally important we make a lasting impression on the attendees to that meeting that they are messing with the wrong People. whilst we have speakers inside the meeting from the various user groups the Authority is just not listening to us and ignoring our rights.

We require as many Trailbikers and 4 x 4 vehicles as possible in the carpark at Aldern House BEFORE 9.00am to prevent visitors and members parking easily. We will conduct a Rally and Protest at the highest possible volume, complete with Placards, Banners, loud hailers and advertising.

This will only work if we are in the Hundreds. ( thousands would be good) we have to demonstrate to the Authorities that what they are doing by banning us from the Green Lanes affects a great number of people from allover the country. i implore every TRF Group, every motorcycle and 4 x 4 club to be represented and bring your vehicles ( road legal of course) and bring your Club Flags/ banners for identification as we will be on the Telly and all the papers.

After the Rally we will go out onto the lanes for a mass ride out, maybe more so be prepared.

The purpose of this is to persuade the Authority that it will be easier to work with us than Ban us. We want them to stop wasting the publics money and sit down and talk with us...........I want to be able to threaten the PDNPA that if they don't listen to us i have the power to cause them so much disruption they will regret the day they started this course of action and i can only do it if i have numbers. I can only do it if YOU care enough to take a day off work to be there on the 25Th of January.

Tell your friends, tell the Ramblers, tell everyone we are coming to Bakewell on the 25th........more the merrier. Please post this on your forums.

Mike Irving, TRF Communications Director
communications@trf.org.uk

Address is here:

Peak District National park Authority
Aldern House
Baslow Road
Bakewell
Derbyshire, DE45 1AE

Sorry should have made sure it was in the letter somewhere.

I'm up for it and I'll email Paul aka Rogerthecat to see if we can get the camping field for the night before

I let Paul know about this and he did make the following points

Mixed feelings on this one the trail riders have brought this on themselves to some degree but less so the 4x4 groups but they are not entirely blameless. The reckless riding and much less driving on the Peak green lanes is getting to ridiculous levels. I have nearly been taken out when out on my MTB by trail bikes so many times now I have lost count, large numbers ride bridleways illegally, they hit corners at speeds that prevents them seeing what is around the corner - they treat it like a trail bike centre and when challenged are either very aggressive or just ride off, often having previously removed reg plates. So, my sympathies are somewhat strained to the trail riding groups.

The 4x4 groups are, on the whole, better behaved. However, there is a very visible element that again drive as if they are at a 4x4 centre and not in a national park.

Paul lives in the park, runs a syncro and is a MTB'r and I have to say I do agree with his feelings on the bikers, we've experienced the same behavior out on the lanes and I've read some other stuff in the motoring press where a 4x4 group decided their pleasure was more important than a historic trials vehicle event that was going on, maybe we should let PDNP go the same way as YDNP, it's a shame, and I'm glad we managed to drive the lanes before they were closed, and ultimately the businesses in the park will loose out but when you see the vast numbers who come out of the cities to walk and cycle the economic argument doesn't stack up - it's a bit different here in Wales as the pressure on the routes is much less and it's further away from the metropolis' so fewer of the trials bikes seem to travel here, most of the issues seem to be in south wales due to proximity of the big cities there, and I'm sure th eincrease in trail bikes is partly financial, lot less fuel cost in blatting 100 miles in a day from home, riding the trails and going home again, spending nothing in the park - at least if we go we camp, go to the pub, buy food and fuel and driving the lanes helps to keep them open for others

Aidan wrote: Paul lives in the park, runs a syncro and is a MTB'r and I have to say I do agree with his feelings on the bikers, we've experienced the same behavior out on the lanes and I've read some other stuff in the motoring press where a 4x4 group decided their pleasure was more important than a historic trials

Having seen historic Peak District footpaths and trails destroyed by reckless trail bike and 4x4 users I can only agree with Paul's comments. One such path 'Jacob's Ladder' in Stoney Middleton was ruined by a group of Landrover enthusiasts with chainsaws over the period of a month. They cut down everything in their way and turned what was a clear, clean footpath into a churned up swamp, digging out banksides causing walls to collapse, knocking down walls and fences with zero respect for walkers (local and otherwise) starting fires to burn the wood and blocking the path for everyone else for days at a time. They have even ruined the access to the village cemetery where my Father is buried.

This isn't a 'right of access' dispute, this is a fight to preserve what have never been more than a footpath in many cases. Walk these paths, even ride mountain bikes or horses BUT these paths were created historically many centuries before cars came along.

Ian

Trouble is like in everything a few bad apples and everyone gets tarred with the same brush. I've seen plenty of 4x4 nutters ragging around with no respect for others but at least they are mostly legal.
The Trial bikers who behave like that are more often than not just an ilegal bunch, usually youngsters, who buy a cheap bike and think ANY lane is a green lane for them to rag down. They don't care about legal bikes or legal riding they are just out for fun and because they are illegal on bridleways etc etc they will always do it anyway, they don't care or will probably never even know that the lanes are closed.
The TRF have a code of conduct with legal bikes etc and are often seen repairing and maintaining lanes within their respective counties, I've helped myself in the past. That codes gives max speed limits and respect for all others using the lanes. They have even helped "police" the lanes in some cases by informing the authorities of ilegal riding.
I've often thought maybe the councils should let local 4x4 or TRF groups etc help or be responsible even for the upkeep of some lanes, there would be a willing amount of volunteers.
Here in Gloucestershire there are already lanes that having become restricted byways are now too overgrown and impassible because no one is maintaining them or using them, So in the end everyone losses out including the horse riders and....the ramblers....and I'm one of those too!

Well ? What happened ? I know it snowed so I assume no-one could make it