LANING LIFE

by Lauren Eaton

While the holiday season will have been a very different experience for all of us, we at GLASS hope that you’ve all had a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

It has been a very busy end to an even busier year for us here! Between the 1st August and 1st December 2020 we welcomed more new members than we had in total in 2015!

During 2020 our membership increased by 57% on the previous year, and in the last two years we’ve more than doubled our supporters overall!

Thank you to every single one of you for making the organisation what it is today, and for ensuring that we can continue to protect our hobby for many years to come.

We really couldn’t do it without you all!

Starting as we mean to go on

While much of 2020 has been about as welcome as a cracked sump, we have made a lot more progress than we expected, especially considering the dreaded lurgy, and we have a huge number of new initiatives that will be launched during 2021, whether or not the viral situation continues.

But first a quick recap on what you helped us to achieve last year! We actively listen to feedback we receive and where at all possible incorporate it into our initiatives, systems, working practices, and projects.

During 2020 we had five major aims and objectives to work towards, these aren’t ‘tick box’ objectives but are things that can be consistently worked upon year on year, and I think you’ll agree the last 12 months saw us making huge progress towards them all despite Covid!

To provide a legal challenge to prevent the loss of unsurfaced BOATs and UCRs.

To offer practical assistance as conservation volunteers.

To provide educational opportunities to managers and motorised users of roads with unsealed surfaces.

To provide a social benefit to all members and their families. Encourage disabled or infirm members to participate in the enjoyment of the countryside.

Enhance Trailwise 2 (TW2) for the benefit of members, local authority and others.

So here’s what we’ve done, and how we’ve done it!

Trailwise 2 adventure!

Trailwise2 was one of our main objectives for improvement during 2020, and has seen a large number of upgrades, and they are not stopping there!

During the last 12 months we added:

- Several new mapping layers including historical maps, aerial views, and both 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 OS maps.

- Full screen view to make planning easier. - GPS location and tracking.

- The ability to drag and drop GPX files onto the map to check route legality. - Highway authority boundaries.

- Improved search functions.

- Generally improved performance. We have plans to add new features that will help users with many of the common requests and questions we get asked. I’m not going to spoil the surprise and tell you what’s coming, but I’m confident you’ll all be very pleased when it happens!

Turning threats into opportunities

One huge potential threat to green laning that we are fully aware of and working very hard to tackle is the matter of illegal off roading and irresponsible usage of legal lanes. There have been numerous suggestions put to us about managing the situation, many are things that we already do but can’t always make public.

The difficulty for us is that PR can be a doubleedged sword; it may bring us more members and money to help fight for the cause, but it can have a negative effect if those we are trying to combat get wind of plans before they are implemented.

2020 saw us work closer than ever with land owners, councils, the police and many others in a bid to combat illegal and irresponsible driving. It isn’t a problem that GLASS alone, or even the police alone can address nationally; it takes a team!

That team is growing, learning, and becoming stronger by the day. 2021 is the year we hope to put a lot of the planning we’ve been doing during 2020 into further action.

Our Cheshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire reps have been working very hard with their local forces. I’ve been working with various crime teams across Wales and in Northumberland, and will be attending an operation with our Cheshire rep this month.

I’ve also taken on a project in Durham, and been invited to a public event in Leicestershire with our local rep in the spring. It will give GLASS the opportunity to educate the public, and the police, from a responsible green laning perspective.

These examples build on numerous close working relationships that we have with the police, such as the MOD on Salisbury Plain (see our new YouTube video for more information), and areas like Devon and Cornwall who have been building relationships for some time.

We have a national project to launch in 2021 that is going to really help improve our work in this area, stay tuned for updates!

Reach for the stars!

As I’m sure most of you are aware we’ve been busily working on the first of many videos about what GLASS and those involved in the organisation do. From assisting the MOD, to providing the ability for members with mobility or health issues, like Marilyn and Lawrence, to access the countryside, signage initiatives, physical conservation projects, PR, education, and working with authorities have all been highlighted so far.

We have many more fabulous examples of team work that we will cover in future videos, and these will be made available by a new team; the GLASS media team!

Many volunteers have come forward to offer their assistance in various activities within the organisation, and over the last month I’ve been speaking to those interested in the PR and public education side of GLASS, and several other areas too. From those conversations I was able to put a team together that represents our membership as a whole.

The team consists of members, reps, regional coordinators, and execs, people aged in their 20s to their 50s, both male and female members, and disabled and able bodied users. The ‘A Team’ will be vital in helping build on our educational and news platforms going forward, we have a lot of new ideas, and we hope that you’ll both enjoy and benefit from them!

Getting down to the nitty gritty

Legal challenges are something GLASS do try and avoid; we’d rather form relationships with authorities and land owners, and address things proactively by working together to come to a solution that benefits all involved, than spend huge sums of money in court, but sometimes we simply have to put our legal hats on and get stuck in to help save our rights to drive unsurfaced roads.

Legal processes don’t always mean court cases, but thankfully the big one in 2020 ended in a favourable result for laners. The infamous Lake District judicial review regarding High Tilberthwaite and High Oxen Fel,l fought by the antis vs the park authority, saw us keep our rights to drive both iconic lanes, and the others in the park.

This case sets a precedent for any future similar action; it wasn’t just a win on the day, but sets a positive tone for the future.

Earlier in the year access to Pindale in the Peak District went to public inquiry, I was able to attend along with other GLASS and TRF representatives, and again we received a positive result after a long fought battle! It was a very interesting experience to witness some of the most well-known and active antis go head to head with the legal representative fighting the corner for laners and trail riders.

One thing was very clear - evidence isn’t a top priority when it comes to those who have personal bias against our hobby, and to be totally honest it was uncomfortable to watch this in action. Thankfully, if the rest of us could see it so could the decision makers, who decided we should keep vehicular access.

Other legal areas we are constantly working on are DMMOs (Definitive Map Modification Orders), and the opposition of TROs (Traffic Regulation Orders). DMMOs are important because after 2026 we will no longer be able to modify the Definitive Map, and this means that any unrecorded or inaccurately recorded vehicular RoWs will not be added to the map or amended to reflect their true legal status.

Obviously other user groups are hot on the case too, and some would like to see our vehicular rights downgraded, so we have to keep on top of applications to make sure that doesn’t happen; it’s no small task considering the numbers, but we’re on it!

TROs happen for a variety of reasons, but it is our firm belief that permanent closure is not management! We may in some cases support temporary closures over winter for example to protect a sensitive lane during the wettest months, but closing public roads due to lack of maintenance or misuse by an irresponsible few is not on in our book! There are proactive solutions and we work hard to negotiate those before talk of any form of closure even if it’s only temporary.

Legal action is a costly business, which is one reason GLASS does try to use membership fees more proactively to enhance working relationships, physically repair and maintain routes, and educate all interested parties in ways we can work together. Thanks to a huge rise in membership we have funds to drive the legal route if and where necessary, and that is down to you guys!

Without coming together as a community we couldn’t hope to afford to contest some of the big cases that threaten our hobby.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

This is the bit I love about my job! I get contacted about a tricky situation, asked for or offered help, and then get to work with some really hard working and motivated people on projects that benefit all laners. It’s fabulous!

Here are some examples from 2020:

Leicestershire - turn that frown upside down

Our rep Steve Wild, and his assistant Jason Gulliver, came to me for support over a long running issue in their county. They felt like despite their continued efforts to solve several unfortunate problems some local mud pluggers had caused, that green laners were facing some discrimination and misunderstanding from local residents and the authorities.

It’s not uncommon for us to feel like the outliers at meetings, I’ve been there myself!

They escalated the problem to the exec. committee and I in turn offered to assist in communicating with the action group, comprising of police, council representatives and other user groups, that had been set up to tackle the issue. I also escalated elements of it to other officers who are experts in their field. The results were almost instant!

A Zoom meeting went ahead with me and Steve in attendance, and the conversation quickly turned from a negative one to a positive one. Our proposals were listened to, a mutual understanding began to form, and by the end of the meeting those who had been unsure of GLASS were asking us to advise them on some very complex issues. We were also invited to attend an upcoming public meeting to educate and advise the public, members of local authorities and the police on the legalities of green laning.

This project is far from over yet, but we have come leaps and bounds since we began working as a multi-user team, and we are now efficiently working towards a positive solution after a rocky start!

Wales - Ask and you shall receive

Do you want to be part of the team? If so it’s easy! Just ask one of our more recent members Simon Bailey. He joined us back in August having just bought a truck and immediately got in touch with me as his rep and regional coordinator through our North Wales Facebook group.

We first met on a clearance project that he offered to help with, along with other recently joined members, and this became the start of several very proactive friendships! It also really impressed the farmer who was very appreciative of our help in managing the woodland and UCR on his land.

Several members of the team who met on that lane clearance have assisted in various projects since our first meeting in August. Several clearance projects have taken place. Simon has also assisted with signage runs, and joined me when speaking to local land owners to forge new working relationships and help with any problems they have experienced.

He’s also now a famous movie star having been part of our new GLASS promo videos, and we are currently in talks about how he can assist the organisation with some behind the scenes work as he is a professional in some particular fields we need some help with.

In five months a new member has been so very helpful to GLASS and we welcome anyone with the same proactive and motivated approach to helping the cause. All you need to do is ask, we’d love to hear from you!

All for one and one for all

Everything we do takes a team effort. A new initiative or project needs:

•Our membership officer to sign people up, activate accounts and send out member packs.

•A rep, officer, or member to highlight that something needs doing, or to come up with an idea.

•The executive committee to agree a budget.

•Our (totally awesome) RoW Officer to provide some sound advice and letters to authorities.

•My good self as Communications Officer to liaise if awkward issues arise, write emails/new policy/letters, attend meetings, and of course to give the initiative some PR as Media Officer.

•Our IT Officer to keep you guys updated via our website, where necessary to create new systems, and to keep TW2 up to date.

•Our editor to publicise the info via bulletins and magazines - he’s also behind the fabulous graphics we use and the signage designs we install on lanes UK wide.

•Our Health and Safety Officer to provide risk assessments.

•Possibly a legal team depending on the initiative.

•The Finance Officer to pay the bills and pay for relevant insurance products. •Our Chairman and CEO to coordinate.

•Members/reps/execs to volunteer to help with physical work.

There is no ' I ' in GLASS, everything we do is a team effort!

That’s all from me this month folks! Join me next month when I’ll be able to introduce you to my new (to me at least) 4x4, and bring you more news on the launch of some of our 'new-for-2021' initiatives!

Happy New Year!

Lauren x