Only 6,445 days are left to reclaim the nation's lost bridleway network

Discovering Lost Ways

According to the Natural England agency there are in access of 22,000 unrecorded ways in England and Wales. Unless action in taken now to record these historic routes with their correct bridleway or byway status (as of the 1st May 2006 we now have something called Restricted Byways (RB), horse riders and cyclist will lose thousands miles of safe off-road routes forever. With busy roads and noisy lorries these reclaimed routes are much needed, as the British Horse Society (BHS) reports there are over 29 horse related accidents on our roads each day.

Current Bridleway Network

Our present bridleway network are few, fragmented, and have many 'Dead End' routes what local authorities call Definitive Map Anomalies.

Why do we have these problems?

Under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 local authorities were asked to survey all lands in their area over which a right of way is alleged to exists and prepare a map showing these footpaths, bridleways and roads used as public paths. At the time of the survey the difference between these different types of status was not thought to be of any great importance as it is today and many were left off the map.

DEAD - END BRIDLEWAY: NO THROUGH ROUTE FOR RIDERS

The following chart highlights the lack of routes in the UK. Composition of the National Network

Urban Links

Bedfordshire County Council does little to promote or provide safe off road routes. When compared to other counties such as Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire has one of the lowest amounts of bridleways. It is not possible to support rural business and activities in the surrounding villages, our communities are isolated as the current network of routes are dead ends or non-existent.

Why the need for this web site?

I would like to try and implement some of the recommendations of the Lost Ways Report at a local level before 2004 which are:

Offer some form of database to log areas of interest and research to avoid duplication of effort.
Co-ordinate systematic trawl though various archives.
Provide links to other web sites which contain useful information.
Discussion forum.

Definitive Map Modification Order

Any person who believes that the definitive map is wrong or incomplete may apply for a modification order to amend it. It is not my intention to open up the countryside to abuse, but hopefully to gain the support of the public and landowners, as I would like to reclaim a of number of lost bridleways routes which are much needed.

The latest figures from the East of England Tourist Board show that the tourism industry in Bedfordshire is worth a staggering Ł382.4 Million.

Some 2.4 Million people in Britain ride. This figure has been established by research from the British Equestrian Trade Association (currently the most comprehensive source of insight on the British Horse Industry).

Local rights of way help to boost tourism, and contribute to rural economies. (Pubs, and Farm shops) could all benefit greatly.

Bedfordshire County Council might one day get around to the Rights of Way improvement (RoWiP) plan some time in 2007, there will be no statutory obligation to implement these plans.

How can small rural business (like riding schools) keep inline with other leisure activities when local authorities prefer other non-horse related business and activities.