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Access & Bridleways Full details of all the Access activities carried by the BHS - click here Scroll down for news
Access Officers
Access Officers monitor rights of way in their area to ensure that obstructions are dealt with and bridleways kept clear for riders. They review planning applications to ensure that rights of way are not lost, encourage the opening of new bridleways and maintain a close liaison with Local Authorities and the British Horse Society Access Department at Stoneleigh. The County Access Officers are listed below:
South Regional Access Officer: Mrs Janice Bridger Tel: 01635 200507 e-mail: janice.bridger@btopenworld.com
Berks Access: Mrs Jill Coates Tel: 01344 752385
Bucks Access: Vacancy (contact Jan Eedle-Wells 01494-882041 e-mail: jan.eedle-wells@talk21.com ) Hants Access: Mrs Brenda King Tel: 01730 264178 I-O-W Access: Mrs Sheila Weedall Tel: 01983 873363
Oxon Access: Ms Troth Wells Tel: 01865 778790 email: trothw@newint.org
Coastal Access for Equestrians - Your Help IS needed (Sept 08)
A Bill will soon be going through Parliament to debate the provision of a statutory right of access along the whole of the coast. However, this is only for walkers even though the corridor will be 4 metres wide, that is, wider than many existing bridleways. The BHS, along with a number of other organizations including the Central Council for Physical Recreation, has been lobbying for the corridor to be also available for horse riders but Natural England will not agree.
So, the BHS is asking all of us to lobby our MPs to speak up for equestrians when this Bill is debated & voted on in Parliament. It could not be easier to do. Look out for a postcard to send to your MP in the Nov/Dec issue of British Horse. Find out who your MP is on www.writetothem.com . Or, download a postcard e-copy from www.bhs.org.uk (click ‘Other access campaigns’) and pop it into an envelope. A postcard can be sent from each member of the household.
Please consider sending in a postcard even if you are not near the coast. It will raise the profile of equestrian access, which is usually forgotten about, and encourage the BHS to campaign for better equestrian access & bridleways in the future.
Fuller details can be found on the main BHS website and on page 18 of the Sept / Oct British Horse magazine.
Click here for the Postcard to send to your MP
Sign up to the New Bridleways petition (May 08) Sign up to a New Bridleway petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/publicbridleways/ ‘We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to provide funding and use legislation for creation of new public bridleways. Horse Riders have access to less than 25% of the current public rights of way network, and face danger when using today's busy roads. To ensure appropriate funding is in place and legislation (Highway Act 1980 S26) to be used by local authorities for new bridleways to be shown on definitive maps and ordnance survey maps. To ensure the Highway Agency develops a national programme of re-instating severed crossing points by creating new dedicated bridle bridges or underpasses as safe crossing points for motorways or trunk roads. To ensure Local authorities and parish councils develop local joined up community riding circuits of 5-15 miles to rebuild the national bridle route network.’
News from the Access Department at BHS HQ (Feb. 08)
The Access & Rights of Way department continues to deal with numerous diverse issues that affect hacking out. It has just released updated advisory leaflets on Standards and Dimensions of equestrian paths, Finding Bridleways, Clearing Rights of Way, Stallions on Bridleways, Riding on Beaches and Riding on Estuaries,how to start a bridleways group. Free to download at http://www.bhs.org.uk/Content/Acs-ORR.asp .
Riders are encouraged to report incidents of poorly controlled dogs interacting negatively with horses on http://www.bhs.org.uk/Content/Sft-home.asp or contact Hannah Brown on 01926 707813 or e-mail: h.brown@bhs.org.uk, to gauge how widespread this problem is. The information gathered by the survey will form the basis of a guidance note and, if dog attacks are a large-scale issue, an awareness campaign.
Anyone who wants to keep up with the issues the BHS are pursuing on behalf of riders who hack out, can subscribe to ‘Tracks’, get the monthly Access Bulletin and subscribe to BHS E-news.
The biggest issue in the last 6 months is the failure of the BHS, the Ramblers, the CPRE and a number of individuals to prevent the closure of a bridleway in Oxford, vigorously pursued by BMW using a team of lawyers & experts, at hearing conducted in the Magistrate’s Court. Even worse was the outrageous award of £30,000 costs against the BHS. This judgement was very bad news for the defence of bridleways generally. On the positive side, it led to the setting up of the BHS access fighting fund to which all are encouraged to contribute so that the BHS can defend future cases without the fear of bankrupting the BHS. So, if you are running or helping to run an equestrian event for charity, it might be a good idea to think of supporting this fund – the next proposed closure may be near you! Personal contributions are also welcome. Over £13,000 has been raised to date. Contributions can be made on line or by cheque etc.
Full details can be found on the main BHS website www.bhs.org.uk or http://www.justgiving.com/AccessFightingFund
New petition for more and safer access for riders (Oct 07) Please would you consider signing up to (and placing on any websites/newsletters you have access to) a new petition launched today and put together by together by myself, the BHS Access Department and its regional access and bridleway officers. See http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Equestrianaccess/ to press for equestrians to be included in all new access legislation. We are the most vulnerable of road users and need increased off-road access but have not been included in recent access-creating legislation, eg. the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and now the coastal access proposal. Mark Weston, Director of Access, Safety and Welfare, said: "It is vital that we use all means available to impress on the Government that equestrians need more and safer access. E-petitions are one way of showing the demand, along with writing to our MPs." The recent petition calling for amendments to the Highway Code attracted just under 20,000 signatures, so let’s see if we can beat that! Oxfordshire Bridleways - Access Fighting Fund (Oct 07) If you
have read this weeks Horse and Hound or if you are a resident if
Oxfordshire you may have heard of our recent fight to save a 2,000 year
old Bridleway threatened with closure by BMW. Unfortunately we lost our
case and to add insult to injury had costs awarded against us of £30,000
(with our own legal costs our bill amounts to about £50,000), which is a
substantial loss to the Society. The
address is:
www.justgiving.com/AccessFightingFund
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