11 minute read
4X4S IN THE MEDIA
It’s not all mud and games!
by Lauren Eaton
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A huge part of the work of GLASS is education and we aim these messages at all sorts of people - 4x4 drivers, motorcyclists, other rights of way users, authorities, and the public at large. We’re often contacted by media organisations for comment, a full interview, or to help with a feature, but due to the nature of the media some of this work never makes the public domain, some is edited beyond recognition, and some, like here in The Mud Life, is published in its entirety.
As Media and Communications Officer the vast majority of this work falls to me, so I thought I’d share a transcript of my most recent interview that will be aired on BBC Radio 4 this week. I’ve no idea which parts, or how much of the following will be used, but here are my padded out (with what I actually said) prep. notes for you all to see.
It’s not often I get time to prep either! While sometimes its great fun and I get to plan laning trips for car magazines, or organisations from clubs to the RAF, there have been days when a call has come through and I’ve been asked to get to London in 90 minutes from North Wales!
While that isn’t possible I’ve made a mad dash to get to a Manchester recording studio instead - after hurriedly paying for and throwing my shopping in the boot before leaving the supermarket I was in because I thought I had a day off!
An hour and a half later I was sitting in front of a TV camera with no briefing on what the piece was all about (except that it was about Yorkshire), an ear piece was stuck in my lug hole, the camera started rolling and the questions began.
During Covid I’ve been called out immediately (then ended up waiting for an hour) to be interviewed in car parks whilst a cameraman stands well back due to social distancing measures.
Other days I’ve had 3 minutes notice of Zoom meetings - once while I was sat in a bath robe answering emails again thinking I had a day off before attending a medical appointment. Superman has nothing on my quick change skills that day!
This media officer lark is an interesting and varied one to say the least!
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Callum Wallis Otter who was interviewed on the spot when he accidentally bumped into the same reporter in the Peak District the day before my planned interview.
Many thanks for speaking for our community Callum!
This interview took place over the phone on Wednesday 23rd December, it is due to air on BBC Radio 4 sometime at the beginning of January.
Firstly I must differentiate between off roading and green laning. Green laning is the act of driving legal public roads; the same laws apply to them as any other road as it does to the vehicles that drive them, the only difference being that they do not have a tarmac surface, but that does not change their legal status.
All roads began their life this way, what remains are historical reminders of the of the UK’s transport history, or in the case of the Lake District and most other national parks, remnants of the industrial past that shaped the landscape we see today.
Green laners and trail riders, as a minority group using 4x4s and motorcycles to access the few remaining examples, are a drop in the ocean compared to the heavy vehicles they were built for to access quarries and other industrial locations on what was a much larger unsurfaced road network than we know today. As these roads have been used for centuries if green laners were so damaging we would have either seen blanket closures, or have a lot more maintenance problems than we do today!
In regards to “damage”, much of the maintenance work required is just that, maintenance; any user group that frequents a Right of Way will cause maintenance issues, just as any car on a tarmac road will over time.
Weather and water erosion also plays a huge part in the surface standard of all types of RoWs, and local authorities are responsible for maintaining them just as any other road or pavement. The Green Lane Association are very active in assisting with this maintenance work across England and Wales.
To give some examples of the maintenance work various users groups will cause, according to the LDNPA's (Lake District National Park Authority) report dated October 2019, the findings of which were upheld by a recent judicial review of the report, £50k was spent on High Tilberthwaite green lane in 2017.
To compare this sum they cited a £3 million project to repair non-vehicular RoWs in 2015, and a £7.9 million project to repair the non-vehicular Keswick Railway Path. They cite, as another comparison, £50k as the cost of repairing individual bridges, and state that Fix the Fells projects have spent millions on repairing erosion scars caused by walkers over the last decade.
Vehicular users currently have access to approximately only 3% of the rights of ways in the countryside UK wide. In the Lake District this amounts to 120.6kms, compared to 3281.9kms for walkers, and 1073.6kms for cyclists and horse riders. To put it simply - walkers have 100% access to RoWs, and drivers have access to only 3.7% in the Lake District National Park.
This year £90k of public crowd funded money, plus a similar amount from the LDNPA, was spent trying to remove vehicular rights over 3.1km or 0.09% of the LDNP unsurfaced highway network on High Tilberthwaite and High Oxen Fell where the lanes are in a good state of repair and receive minor usage, 40 per week, in comparison to nearby footpaths which receive footfall amounting to thousands.
The park authority fought in favour of maintaining vehicular rights on the park’s green lanes, and a judicial review decision echoed that decision.
Visitors to the LDNP stand at 15million per year, and while we cannot give exact numbers of green lane users, the LDNPA counted 40 vehicular users per week on two of the most iconic lanes in the park. One being High Tilberthwaite, where prior to the recent maintenance work the residents cannot remember any previous remedial work being carried out since they moved in in the 1960s - when many now tarmac roads in the park were still unsurfaced themselves.
There has been a significant increase in all types of RoW users since the pandemic began. UK residents have not had the same opportunities to travel abroad this year and have therefore chosen to holiday at home.
While there have been some minor and localised issues with irresponsible drivers, and the Green Lane Association support prosecutions in these cases and do offer to help with any repairs, the huge numbers of non-vehicular users choosing to visit national parks, and the problems this has caused, has been of national importance and reported UK wide.
In the Lakes a C class road that runs along the eastern side of Coniston had to be closed due to large volumes of walkers and other users parking disrespectfully, blocking the road to other users including the emergency services, leaving litter, and lighting fires. The same was seen in Snowdonia National Park, thousands of walkers queuing to reach the summit, human faeces reported on footpaths, parking causing problems for other road users, the emergency services, and local residents who could not access their homes or the land they manage.
One important point to add is that during the pandemic driving in your own vehicle is the safest way to travel. The risk of catching covid when you are isolated inside a 4x4 is probably as close to zero as is possible!
GLASS are acutely aware of the impact on people’s mental health during covid, and while we have asked people not to go green laning when restrictions have applied, when we have been allowed to drive lanes it has been a safe way to access open spaces without putting ourselves and others at as much risk as coming into contact with others along the way, which would be inevitable when walking.
Why does any type of user do what they do? Anything we use will require maintenance - cars, roads, shoes, footpaths - and, as you can see by the above examples, other user groups are costing national parks massive sums of money compared to laners.
Some people have no other option than to drive lanes. The Green Lane Association has numerous members who are restricted by age, health, or disability, many of whom were keen walkers, cyclists or horse riders in the past. Many of our able bodied members use 4x4s or motorcycles some days, but choose to walk, cycle or ride on others - we have experience of all methods of countryside access, unlike non-vehicular users who have never personally experienced what we do.
What should bring us all together, however we choose to travel, is a love of the outdoors and a wish to explore and experience it. The method of transport we use may depend on many factors such as the weather, how much free time we have - driving allows us to cover a much bigger area than walking - and as someone who first got into RoWs as a walker, has been a cyclist and horse rider, and now chooses to drive lanes, due to health problems that began in my 20s, I’m rather saddened to see the huge divide between user groups. As is GLASS, we work for all users!
While the vast majority of our members are 4x4 drivers or motorcyclists, GLASS do have members who have never driven a lane in their lives, but they support the work we do that benefits all users of our historic road network
That’s a very valid point, but one that could be aimed at any user group, again use by a significantly larger number of non-vehicular users has been proven, in the Lake District at least, to cause more damage and cost more in repairs than the minority group that are green laners and trail riders.
Access to the countryside is important and if it was taken away from vehicular users a significant number of people would not be able to access the countryside at all. Not just physically disabled users either, we have members with children who are on the Autistic spectrum who cannot cope in new places and around new people, but feel safe in a familiar vehicle. Everyone has a right to access our green spaces and for some that absolutely requires access via a 4x4.
One aspect of this ongoing debate that is rarely discussed is the fact all user groups have something in common - a love of the outdoors and exploring the countryside. None of us wish to see it damaged, and that common goal should be bringing us together to tackle it proactively rather than pushing us apart.
How we choose to travel in order to experience the countryside is not the big issue here, human behaviour is. Driving a car does not mean that we suddenly lose all respect for our surroundings, quite the opposite as many green laners use theirs as 4x4 Response vehicles, some are involved in mountain rescue and other blue or amber light organisations, and help out with numerous maintenance, conservation and signage projects through organisations such as the Green Lane Association.
It is only the minority of people from all walks of life, who choose to walk, cycle, ride, or drive in the countryside who will flout the rules and disrespect their surroundings; it is not indicative of drivers alone.
Closing lanes will not stop those willing to flout the law either, we have 25 years of experience and have seen this in action. Closures only dissuade legal responsible users, and the illegal and irresponsible use continues either on the same lanes or elsewhere. Education and maintenance are the solution!
The vast majority of vehicular users use their daily vehicles, they will use them to take the children to school the next morning, drive to work, pick up shopping, it would make no sense to drive them in a way that could cause damage to the lanes or the vehicles themselves. Again when it comes to disrespectful usage we are talking about a minority, and a minority of every user group, not just drivers or motorcyclists.
