With the use of off-road recreational vehicles becoming ever more controversial, not least on the OM forum, a new voluntary Code of Respect applying to a small area of the Peak District is particularly interesting.
The Stanage Forum, the management body for the Stanage Edge area of the Peak, is to consider the proposed code drawn up by representatives of climbers, walkers and 4x4 and trail bike organisations such as the Trail Riders' Fellowship and the Land Access Rifggst Association.
The voluntary cde proposes a speed limit of 5mph for 4x4s and 20mph for trail bikes on the Long Causeway, a three-mile long unclassified road that runs up across Stanage Edge then across sensitive moorland habitat. In addition to the speed limits, the code includes an advisory one-way system along with maximum sized groups of six trail bikes and four 4x4s.
The hope is that the new proposals will both reduce erosion to the trail surface and reduce conflict between users.
Estate manager Matthew Croney said: "Voluntary agreement, in the form of a Code of Respect, is the best method of achieving a workable solution. Similar areas, such as The Ridgeway, in the Chilterns have codes of conduct like this, and we believe this is the best way forward for all the users and for the Specially Protected wildlife habitats."
The Stanage Forum - the management body for the area - meets on Saturday 12 November between 2pm and 5pm when it will consider the proposals and anyone with an interest in the area is free to attend.
Attendees will also be given a Stanage birdsong CD, recorded by estate warden Bill Gordon, who was up with the larks [it says here] throughout spring and summer to catch the dawn chorus. "It's a selection of moorland birds, including the redstart, tree pipit, windchat, and even the ring ouzel feeding its young," said Bill.
We predict the CD will melt the stony hearts of 4x4 drivers everywhere. Ooops, just joking...
