pretty self explanatory whats happening


Now we are stepping up the effort.

After our success on Bank Holiday Sunday it is imperative we keep up the pressure.

Lets see if we can help the Peak Motor user groups take the Peak District National Park Authority to task.

Mike




Saving the Peak District green lanes

The Peak and Derbyshire Vehicle Users Group (PDVUG) is an umbrella group representing the national organisations of the TRF, GLASS and LARA together with a number of local groups of trail riders and 4x4 drivers.

We are engaged in a battle with the Peak District National Park to keep the green lanes open for our use, fighting against the Park’s policy of yielding to the pressure of local people and closing the best lanes to recreational vehicles through the use of TROs.

Three days of action called ‘Back to Tarmac’ are planned between now and the New Year, on Sundays: 21 October, 25 November and 30 December. Please come and spend a day in the Peak District and whilst you are here, join us in making our presence felt (legally and orderly but with as many vehicles as possible) in a few key villages in the Peak.

The objective is to encourage local residents, who are unaware of the issue, to contact the Peak Park and lobby on our behalf for the lanes to be kept open to enable us to avoid clogging the ordinary roads.

The idea is that if enough recreational bikes and vehicles are driving about at ‘lane speeds’, stopping and parking-up on the tarmaced roads, filling carparks and generally being very visible in village centres, then it will highlight to the local people the impact of closing the lanes and moving us all onto the roads. By ‘lane speeds’ we mean demonstrating clearly the voluntary code of conduct by driving on the ordinary roads slowly at the speed you would on a lane, in groups of 4 vehicles or 6 bikes.

Nearer the dates, PDVUG will circulate and post on websites the details of which roads and villages we will be focussing on for each weekend.

Please encourage as many as possible to come out and join in the fun. There is no rigid plan, and clubs and groups may wish to operate individually or join forces with other groups to create more impact. The important thing is that we become a nuisance without doing anything illegal. So, that means paying in carparks and parking correctly in the villages. Engaging in conversation with coffee shop owners and publicans is useful to spread the word.

A similar event on August Bank Holiday attracted widespread attention (creating the support we need) and received good press coverage.

Help us keep the Peak District lanes open.

An absolutly ridiculous idea,if you even think that locals will expect that you will visit the peaks from miles away to "ride" the ROADS around the peaks,on trail bikes and 4x4s ,instead of the lanes! they must be pissing themselves ,this is once again so pointless its a waste of your time/fuel .I dont support any action that involves the perpertrators of the damaged lanes which are the 4x4s,distance yourselves from them and you may ,but i doubt it stand a chance of being heard.The main objection is the noise and general anti social riding ,packs of ejits "racing" each other through a park,with all other users present ,it has gone too far ,inconsiderate riders have alienated too many people.All you will acheive is to once again remind folk what a bunch of clowns are heading this causing mayhem for ALL road users that day,not just anti groups.How did you measure the "success" before ??i hope it wasnt by how many pissed off folk wrote to local rags or upped their support for the antis as they see that as far more less of a hinderance than hoards of bikes coming through,dont even presume that "the fuel and food we buy" keeps the shops and economy alive there either ,they will be trading long after you have gone.The right to ride there has been abused ,there is no going back ,why would they trust bikers/4x4s again ?? rougue ejits would still go up there an ride.These are my views only ,and i wont be partisipating or supporting something i dont fully believe in,but good luck in your quest to achieve right to ride .Im sure this will rock someones world but dont presume that because i ride im in agreement with any and all protests/decisions that are made.

I, on the other hand will be penning a carefully worded constructive critic of the Parks current policy of caving in to every request from GL£AMs/CLA toadies, namely the Rambliars.
Get the police in the park to arrest and deal with the "off road" illegal abusers that ruin it for us legal users.
Doing nothing will generally get you nothing.
Fighting back against such injustices in Surrey has saved virtually every lane that has been subjected to calls for a TRO.
Mike

i understand how you feel gary each to there own , there are idiots in all walks of life but should they spoil it for the rest ?

back off road I absolutely think you on the right track - and as mike says do nothing get nothing, I wrote a letter to the peak district council that mike linked before. best I can do from over here.

since I hail from Nottingham/ derbyshire area I have had many a trip in the peak district... and when I come back I'd love to get a ride in up there... ( just not sure when! or where the bike will come from unless I'm back permanently!)

incidentally I nearly spat my coffee out when they emailed back an answer!

dont go down with out a fight!

Doesnt seem many in support????????????

garyd wrote:Doesnt seem many in support????????????

Gary, perhaps you should post up your ideas on how to combat this current threat, which by the way is one of the most serious we have yet had to face, as the GL£AMITES are really getting behind this proposed banning plan.It's a plan they can replicate all over the country I was told by one of their toadies yesterday at a meeting in SURREY.
If your ideas have more merit I for one will gladly back them, and give up some precious spare time to do so.
Mike

Im probably talking absolute pap, but i believe the only way to stop this kind of thing is to be in direct contact with the people who make these descisions. I dont know how you actually do that? Join the council? Become their mate? I really dont know.

I dont think protests do much good, didnt stop the poll tax, or do anything for fathers for justice (injustice)

Its just the way things are done with councils and suit wearing types. They sort out things in warm offices or while out for lunch.

Protests are a good (or sometimes bad) way of raising public awareness, but the public dont do anything about their newly aquired awareness, they are simply more aware.

Befriend the enemy so you can keep them close. I can just see Mike with a wooly hat on whilst out on a ramble Just joking dude

Good to get you back thinking about this again ,cause without the likes of my opinion it could be a bit one sided.Mike i think ive made it quite clear the way forward is to REMOVE yourselves from supporting the 4x4 brigade ,whilst in alliance with those that cause more damage than anyone you are actually condoning their behaviour.Antagonising a situation with ridiculous tarmac rides is again alienating yourselves from those that you are trying to gain support from,believe me you did NO favours to yourselves on the last Peaks protest ,the villagers saw once again disrespect/sillness from a disorganised bunch.Twisted is quite correct ,dont alienate groups ,do as they do and go through the correct channels ,oh didnt you do that before (pre nerc) and devised some "back room" plan/agreement that backfired?? which is why i give no money or support to the cause when you managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Good luck with it all ,but im out and wont be investing.

It's true, quite a few lanes will not supportu unrestricted use by 4x4s, but, if we can work amongst the loose coalition of users to press that point home we can retain a united front against the main detractors. The fragmenting of interest groups will lead to stakeholder groups being picked off one at a time.
Mike

fmtb +1

We need as much support as we can get. Has anyone approached local cafes and fuel stations, for example in the Peak District? Has anyone actually informed them as to what might be happening, and asked what impact it will have upon their business if all 'off-roading' was banned in the Peak District?

Personally I think we've lost more than enough lanes as it is, and it makes me fuming.... I'm really not going to get started as I could rant on all night about it. We have something stupid like 2% of the lanes in the entire Peak District, we need to keep what we have left open. Let's not let it happen that Trail Riding is a thing of the past. I dread the conversation in years to come 'Hey.... you remember when we used to go trail riding....??'

Local hostility is very minimal, with the Trail £ eagerly accepted in most businesses in out of season times.
The principle objectors are a minority "clique" of incomers who view our presence as damaging to their property values.
This NIMBY concern has been eagerly seized upon, and blown out of all proportion by the Country Landowners Association, [CLA], who use GL£AM as their stalking horse to real in the intellectually challenged, work donkeys of their cause, namely Rambliar zealots.
This is the same miserable scroats who wanted a major cull of buzzards and Kites earlier this year, and had already bent the feeble Benyon [ Defra Minister],[ 20'000 acre estate in Englefield Berkshire] and GL£AM member, along with the recently ennobled Jim Paice, Defra and GL£AM stalwart also, to their cause.It was only when the public opinion reached outrage levels that the Government had to do a sharp about face.
They [GL£AM} claim to be worried about the damage to rights of way, YET, completely ignore the horrendous scars inflicted on the landscape by all those marching hob nail boots, that has necessitated a flag stone path being laid with the assistance of noisy helicopters, to accommodate the wear level, at £1000, a METRE , not a peep from GL£AM though, wonder why?
Mike

many of the local garages , shops and cafes were visited on the first demo and given the flyers about what was happening wether they read them or not is another matter

This is the take from garages etc ,your few quid in fuel etc every weekend is no match for the locals refusing to fill up several times a week because the garage supports your cause,they are not going to alienate their business in their own villages,this whole thing is 3/4 way through ,its too late and no-one is listening anyway,why cant a whole group ,as in TRF, put one objection forward ?? rather than each individual in that group having to fire off emails,simply because hardly any will bother,they know that,your up against folk that have time on their hands to follow issues up,this is way down the line the only answer is ignore them and ride ,simply refuse to accept an unjust decision