Lost Bridleways

Subject: Lost - Equestrian Access
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 15:09:51 -0000

Dear Rider

Ridden access to the countryside is threatened as never before.  In 2026 we WILL lose any unrecorded rights and the ability to claim de facto routes. To date there is no positive action being taken by the government, despite continual lobbying by the combined equestrian access bodies on your behalf.  Discovering Lost Ways has stalled due to lack of funds, political will and poor management.

We need routes now.  We have a Minister who has stated his support for our cause but no positive action has been forthcoming.  It is time ridden access was given the support and funding so easily available to rambling and cycling.  It is our historic network, a network we have been denied and which will be lost before we have had a chance to enjoy it.

Please send a copy of this to all riders or interested parties in your e-address book.  EXPRESS YOUR SUPPORT FOR RIDDEN ACCESS by forwarding this
message to the minister on jimknightmp@parliament.uk add your name and area to the bottom.

To help us keep you in touch with what is happening send a receipt to mail@cositowneley.co.uk  Please Act now.

EQUESTRIAN ACCESS NOW

Dear Minister

I am one of the thousands of ordinary people in this country who enjoy horse riding.  I work hard for my sport.  I know that it makes a significant social and economic contribution to my community.  Yet each year it becomes more difficult to exercise legally and safely as our local bridleway network is eroded through obstruction and / or development. I write urging you to more than verbally support the campaign to reinstate our statutory rights, the majority of which were lost through incorrect recording under the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and begin the process of redress, which has not been forthcoming under CRoW.

Your active support in drafting new legislation or ensuring the enforcement of present duties and powers, and confirmation that the necessary funding will be available, is the only way downgraded and ill-maintained statutory routes will be reinstated.  We do not ask for open access, only for a cohesive, comprehensive national bridleway network - free at the point of use - based on the web of historic routes, definitive or not, with links negotiated where necessary.

Too much paper has and is generated on this subject, too little action forthcoming.  We look to you to begin to rectify this imbalance in the immediate future.

Yours sincerely
Cosima Towneley
Lancashire