Dales 4x4 Ban Extended

Restrictions banning the use of recreational motor vehicles from some Green Lanes in the Yorkshire Dales have been made permanent for 12 months in a move welcomed by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).

The decision was made at the end of July by North Yorkshire County Council's Craven area committee and renews four Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) imposed on Green Lanes, including one on part of Mastiles Lane.

The orders, which ban the use of 4x4s, quad bikes and motorcycles from the trails, were due to expire on 1 September, but will now run for another 12 months from that date before being reviewed in 2006.

The review will take into account the views of the Green Lanes Liaison Group, a body set up to look into the management of Green Lanes and which includes both off-roading clubs and bodies like the Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance (YDGLA) which campaigns for the total exclusion of off road vehicles from the national park.

YDGLA chairman Michael Bartholomew has criticised the council for being too timid:

""The good news is that for another year the lanes will be free of 4x4s which is unquestionably a good thing," he says. "However, the bad news is that the county council has overridden the wishes of the national park authority."

Meanwhile Jon Avison, the YDNPA's Head of Park Management, said: "We welcome the decision to make the orders permanent for 12 months but &endash; as we did urge the County Council to make them permanent in the long term &endash; we had hoped that we would not be revisiting the issue on these routes in a year's time."

The Park Authority says that close monitoring of the closure orders shows that the experiment has been a success with 'he majority of recreational motor vehicle users respecting the closures and the level of use by vehicles on all four routes falling dramatically'.

The Authority goes on to say that 'other recreational users of the lanes have found little to spoil their enjoyment while the restrictions on vehicular use have been in place.'

Land Access and Recreation Association - www.laragb.org

Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance - www.ydgla.co.uk