Thursday, 09 September 2010
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| CCW TREADlightly Seminar report |
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Motorised Recreation in the Countryside and ‘treadlightly!’A seminar and workshop was facilitated by CCW in February to explore opportunities to contribute to the management of motorised recreation in the countryside through encouraging responsible behaviour. Motorised recreation in the countryside, both on motor bikes and in four-wheel drive vehicles, is currently a contentious issue in the U.K. Diverging opinions on what is or is not an appropriate recreational activity to undertake on un-paved roads, and other countryside routes have made it very difficult to approach the issue of encouraging responsible behaviour. Often those participating within the law are ostracised along with those acting illegally and/or irresponsibly. The resulting stand-off makes it extremely difficult to achieve a balance between all recreational users’ reasonable enjoyment and the protection of the environment. The Wales Off-Road Motorcycling Steering Group (WORMS), a Welsh Assembly Government supported partnership of key stakeholders in Wales,identified three key themes offering routes to progress, namely:
The focus of this seminar and workshops was on the third area with development potential identified by WORMS. This involved:
The meeting at the Royal Welsh Showground was opened by Mick Bates AM, Chairman of the Sustainability Scrutiny Committee at the National Assembly for Wales. Participants at the event included motorised recreation user groups, those with landowning interests, land managers, farming unions, other users of the countryside, local authorities and national park authorities, Forestry Commission Wales, the police and others with an interest in the subject. CCW took on the role of facilitating the seminar and workshop so that all stakeholders could benefit from a broader and deeper understanding of the issues involved and share insights. The hope was that progress could be made towards robust and holistic solutions to improving responsible motorised recreational use of the countryside that are appropriate across Wales and the U.K. During the planning of the seminar CCW worked with representatives of the Green Lane Association (GLASS), Countryside Recreation Access Group (CRAG) and the Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) who had brought to our attention the positive contribution made by treadlightly! in tackling similar issues in the U.S.A. The U.S. Government set up treadlightly! in 1985 as an educational programme and it has gained widespread support across the U.S.A. and attracted significant corporate sponsorship. This has enabled the programme to develop training and education programmes to promote good practice amongst motorised recreational users. For further information please look at the U.S. website - www.treadlightly.org The event was summed up by Rob Owen, CCW’s Head of Access, Recreation and Communications as follows. “A number of key points have come out from our deliberations:
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