I’m organising a cycling festival in Ludlow in the Shropshire Hills, and the FC have yesterday refused permission on our 30% wild trails MTB ride through Mortimer Forest and Bringewood. I’m going to contact them to find out a little more about why. I wondered if anyone on here has got any experience of this sort of thing.

They’ve encourage us to go to Hopton XC and use that, permissions will be fine. They also encourage us to ride only public rights of way and fireroads in Mortimer Forest and Bringewood.

The aim of our ride was to be a strenuous, and technically challenging 2 hours with a max. group size of 14 riders and 2 qualified and fully insured ride leaders. So the offer of Hopton XC (at 13 miles it’s too far away) or PROW (not technically challenging enough) has meant we’ve removed the MTB ride from our Festival.

I understand they don’t want to get into any legal situations if accidents occur, but isn’t that what the qualified ride leaders are for? With their experience and training they bring insurance that would cover accidents.

I can’t go into Mortimer Forest this weekend as it’s being used for the Woodpecker Stages Rally, where 160 FAST cars pay £500 each to whizz around the fireroads against the clock – I can hear them from my front room. How come they get to do that, and we can’t go on the wild trails with our insurance?

“160 FAST cars pay £500 each to whizz around the fireroads

How come they get to do that, and we can’t?”

Think you may have answered your own question there!

Havin just spent months sorting the single speed uk champs couse and the doing the risk asessments and insurance etc..yes I do. The FC are usually pretty fair once you understand the framework they have to work within.

the whole..oh how can they let a rally but not a cycle event thing is total red herring so dont waste your time getting tangled in that one. If you wanted to use ofdical trails or rights of way they would probably let it happen.

The fact that you want to use cheeky trails, that may be in a sssi area, may have sensitive access, may lead tk other users smashing down the trails you have made or identified at a later date and taking out a walker as it crosses a fire road etc.. and sueing the FC as has happend in other areas resulting in miles of cheeky trails getring brashed.

If you are offering an offical ride as part of a cycle event then really you should get the route plan, risk assessments/method statements and be willing to discuss options ad early as possible. If you still have time and want a chat about the planning/RA side of things im happy to help as I also helpef the legal stuff for the european champs in 2010 as well.

its possible to do on cheeky, but not easy and needs a calm and professional approach

Best to hear them out and listen to the reasons why they’ve refused permission – as Tazzy says there could be SSSI or other enviro issues, and it’s worth remembering these are working forests and they may be planning to fell in the areas you want to use.

I’ve been negotiating with landowners, farmers’ associations and Natural Resources Wales (the FC equivalent over the border) for over a year now trying to get a MTB marathon off the ground in the Black Mountains for Hay Bike Fest. It does take time, particularly if, like me, you’re unfamiliar with the framework and permissions required. You may have to forgo your led ride this time round but stick with it for future festivals. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get something sorted in time for summer 2015.

The wildcat gravel rides were cancelled this year due to the same access issues with FC land. It’s unfortunate, and you can decide to go 1 of 2 routes. The first is just do it, but you are then wholly liable if something does happen ( and may technically be trespassing etc). The 2nd is the formal official route which will take time, patience and possibly some money. But once it is done the first time it should be easier the next….