We are pleased to announce the publication of a major new LARA report on Anti-Social and Unlawful Motoring in the Countryside. This LARA report, and the associated LARA paper on Driving Conduct and Traffic Offences, explain what is anti-social and what is unlawful, with an explanation of the measures already available to tackle both. The report is available on the LARA – Publications page of this website.

This is the fourth (although only the second to be published) of four LARA reports intended to ‘shadow’ the four principal topic areas of the MSWG:

• The status of unsealed unclassified roads. LARA report published September 2018.
• Traffic regulation: orders and other measures. LARA report to be published Summer 2019.
• Surface standards and repair. LARA report to be published Spring 2019.
• Anti-social and unlawful motoring. LARA Report published March 2019.

We welcome all comments, and suggestions for clarification or improvement. LARA and its Member Organisations are ready and willing to work with highway authorities, the police, and non-motorised user groups, to address anti-social and unlawful motoring in the countryside.

In October 2017 a ‘Save the Lake District’ lobby group presented a petition to the CEO of the Lake District National Park Authority, requiring the Authority to start proceedings for a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to close a network of green lanes in the central Lake District to recreational motor vehicles. The petition continues to run at https://www.savethelakedistrict.com/home, is full of false statements and misrepresentations, and creates an apparently widespread perception of guilt whilst providing no option to challenge the claims made. In 2018 the lobby group further petitioned the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO asserting that by not banning recreational motor vehicles the Lake District National Park Authority was violating its then recently achieved World Heritage status.

Local recreational motor vehicle interest clubs led by LARA’s North Region Liaison prepared a critique report to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee which exposes and refutes the many false claims and misrepresentations included in the Save the Lake District papers. The report was copied to the Lake District National Park Authority and Historic England in order that they were also made aware of the many false claims in the Save the Lake District papers.

You can read the report on the Papers and Reports by Others page of this website.

We’ve just published another new LARA paper, titled Driving Conduct and Traffic Offences and sub-titled Enforcement Against Anti-Social and Unlawful Motoring in the Countryside. This sets out the main types of anti-social and unlawful motoring that can take place on unsealed roads, public rights of way, and other land, and lists the traffic offences available to tackle such behaviour. It is a companion paper to the forthcoming LARA Report on Anti-Social and Unlawful Motoring in the Countryside (to be published during Spring 2019). You can read or download the new paper from the LARA – Papers and Reports page.

We’ve just published a new LARA paper, titled 18 Years of Countryside Access Legislation and sub-titled A Review of Changes Affecting BOATs and Unclassified Roads. This is a snapshot of all the countryside access legislation, as it affects the use of mechanically-propelled vehicles in the countryside, from the CRoW Act of 2000 right up to the end of 2018 (and nothing has changed in the last three months). We explain when legislation has been commenced, and when it has not (yet), with an emphasis on what various user groups should do now, and what they should not. You can read or download the paper from the LARA – Papers and Reports page.

The TRF has released its Stonehenge skeleton argument. Read the full story on the TRF website here.

“The VNUK threat has not gone away but the direction of travel is looking more favourable and we will continue to lobby on behalf of all our members and stakeholders.” 

See the latest from the MSA here. 

The Old Coach Road is approximately 8 km of unsealed unclassified county road in the parishes of St. John Castlerigg & Wythburn, Threlkeld, and Matterdale. It was significantly damaged during Storm Desmond in December 2015.

Requests to Cumbria County Council, the Lake District National Park Authority, and others, failed to release the funds necessary for its repair, so the Cumbria Trail Riders Fellowship (CTRF) set up a crowd-funding process embraced by the national Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF), the Green Lane Association (GLASS) and the Trans Euro Trail community.

The road is now repaired for all users, whether they be walkers, cyclists, horse riders, farmers, paragliders, motor vehicle users or any other type of user. You can read more about this restoration project:

• On the GLASS website.
• On the TRF website.

We have just published an updated version of our report on Unsealed Unclassified Roads – Their History, Status, and the Effect of the Natural Environment & Rural Communities Act 2006. The first version of this LARA report was published in March 2013. This major revision incorporates some minor changes to the original text, and three additional sections dealing with the relationship between roads, as recorded on the highway authority’s ‘List of Streets’, and byways open to all traffic (BOATs), as recorded on the ‘Definitive Map and Statement’ of public rights of way. The report is available on the LARA – Publications page of this website.

We welcome all comments, and suggestions for clarification or improvement. LARA and its Member Organisations are ready and willing to work with highway authorities, and the various non-motorised user groups, to preserve this important part of our national heritage.

We’re delighted to announce that the VMCC has upgraded from Associate Member status to Full Member status with immediate effect. The VMCC had been a Full Member of LARA for many years before a decision was made to change to Associate status, so the return to Full Membership is a both a welcome vote of confidence in the future of LARA and a significant boost to our regular income. We extend our special thanks to those individuals within the VMCC (they know who they are) who have worked tirelessly to make this happen.

The TRF has commenced a legal action to challenge Wiltshire Council’s ban on motor vehicles using green roads in the vicinity of Stonehenge.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to support the TRF’s challenge, to raise funds for the case, and to demonstrate to the Council and others that the ban is not popular with the public. A successful outcome in this case will help protect public access to the Stonehenge green roads.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-public-access-to-stonehenge/

Those with a long memory will recall that the byways around Stonehenge have been under threat for years, and have been the subject of at least one public enquiry (which ruled that they should be kept open) in the past. LARA will not be directly involved in fighting the latest proposals, but we fully support our friends at the TRF in their campaign.