PEOPLE in the Three Peaks area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park showed their strong objection to four wheel drive vehicles and motorcycle trials bikes using green lanes this week.
The park authority held an open day and public meeting in Horton-in-Ribblesdale as part of its area actions initiative to identify schemes which the community wants and needs.
The day was hugely successful with around 80 people contributing during the day and between 40 and 50 packing out the village hall for the evening meeting on Monday.
Everyone was asked to give their opinions and views about what they would like to see done in the national park, and by far the most popular suggestion was to ban four wheel drives and motorbikes from the network of green lanes around Horton and Selside.
"People feel very strongly about this and so do we. The national park takes the view that off-roading in the national park is not an appropriate activity, not only because of the damage but also because of noise and disturbance to other users," said Sue Hilder, the park's access and recreation officer.
"The problem is most of the routes are likely to have vehicular rights on them. We have gone to the Government to see whether legislation can be changed, but the Government is not keen to take away people's rights," she added.
Wilf Fenten, parish council representative on the authority, is the chairman of the green lanes working group which is expected to present its findings on the complex issue to the authority at the end of the month.
He said: "After planning, this is the most contentious issue in the park. This area has a concentration of green lanes, which makes it harder to represent, because this is not so much of a problem in other areas.
"I will not rest until some action has been done. What I am against is people using rights of way inappropriately, whether they are four wheel drives on bridleways or mountain bikes on footpaths."
Mr Fenten said the authority was aiming to stop four wheel drive clubs from recommending local routes to their members, and this would cut numbers considerably, although there would always be rogue drivers.
Locals would have a role to play in helping the authority with identifying peak times for four wheel drives, so they could work to catch offenders.
Members of the public Dave Gallivan and Ivor Davies urged the authority to take action against the offending drivers to give a strong message that it meant business.
The area actions day also revealed some strong objections in the Horton area to the planned works at Ribblehead to cut illegal camping and parking on the scheduled ancient monument - the former railway shanty town.
A number of residents felt the scheme to install kerbs and earth bunds to stop vehicles getting on to the land and erect interpretation boards to raise awareness about the monument, was overkill.
Mr Gallivan said: "You are taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If somebody's camping illegally, tell them to move. By stopping the parking you will only shift the problem somewhere else."
The meeting heard the Ribblehead graziers had asked for the action because they were concerned about danger to animals and people from broken glass and cans, and were worried about campers damaging fences and walls.
Alan Hulme, of the national park, said: "It is quite a low key scheme. It is certainly not a major development."
The park felt it could take action on a number of concerns such as developing schemes to dispose of farmers' silage wrap, attracting funds to pay farmers for environmental management, tree planting and raising awareness about the area among visiting group leaders and teachers.
Officers also felt they could work with other authorities and lobby Government on issues like supporting post offices and local shops, protecting local jobs, tackling speeding traffic, residents' only parking schemes, quarry liaison and increasing the council tax payable on second homes.
On the latter, Mr Davies said: "As a second home owner I would be quite happy to pay extra council tax. But, if you think it will stop people buying a second home it won't because council tax is the last thing you think about when you are buying a home."
Mr Fenten was delighted in the interest shown in the area actions day. He said: "this has been the liveliest of the area action days and I think Horton parish has done itself proud."
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