The powers that be here in Northern Ireland are proposing new legislation which will make cycling in any forest ( apart from designated areas) illegal and impose hefty fines on miscreants. They also propose to make it illegal to be in any forest ( on foot, bike or otherwise) from sunset to sunrise.

Its at consultation stage just now so we are encouraging riders to submit their views to jan.davidson@dardni.gov.uk

Curfews? Who would have thought it…..
{Title edited for the greater good – Mod}

Holy sh*t that sounds bloody terrible!

have you got a link to a consultation document etc?

I suppose a night ride in the woods will be off the menu then?

Jeez that stinks.

Blimey sounds a bit Draconian.

Details and relevant links here:

http://www.mtbrider.com/content.php?31-Re-DARD-at-it-again

Read as much as I could before boredom set in from all the subsection paragraph shite.

You have to ask “WHY” is there a really big problem in NI with land access clashes?

I probably know that if I read all the access law guff for the Peak District then it would probably look as bad, but what has sparked this?

This does feel a bit like the beginning of one of those ‘they came for X first, and I did nothing’ type stories, so I’ve sent a response.

I wrote this;

Byelaw 5 (1) The right of access granted under section 31(1) of the Act is excluded between sunset and sunrise.

Riding other than in daylight is a fact of life for all uk mountain bike riders who wish to ride during the week whilst also being in employment. To remove access to traffic free riding for a group of users at any time seems to me to be a retrogressive piece of legislation. I cannot see that people ridign aroudn the woods at 9pm on a Tuesday in January is likelt to lead to any problems. I’ve been night ridign int he UK for years and the onyl people I ever meet are other bike riders.

Byelaw 13 (2) A person shall not ride a cycle other than in an area designated for cycling.

I can understand having certain paths etc which are specifically not for cyclists but most shared use land has sufficent different routes through it that there is no need to make it illegal for cyclists to use such paths.

I live in the south of England but have ridden in large parts of the UK and, whislt doing so, spent money with local businesses for food and accomodation etc. To pass legislation in NI which makes it unattaractive to bike riders seems to be a way fo depriving local businesses of revenue when other areas of the UK seem to be actively courting mtb riders as the recognise the benefits of them visiting.

This is awful. I was hoping that NI would look at the success of the Scottish open access laws and copy them, not go the opposite way.

Get the mods to change this to the bike forum and change the thread title to get some more people looking at this.

The financial argument may be one worth stressing. If examples of increased trade in regions where MTBing is unhindered by crap legislation could be cited in evidence (and I have no idea whether or not it can be), then it seems worth putting to them.

On the basis of the proposed legislation you are describing, I wouldn’t consider living in NI (yes, it would otherwise be a possiblity), and I probably wouldn’t visit.

FWIW the draft Land Reform Act (Scotland) bill had a similar restriction. It had originally been inserted due to concerns over the security of folk living in quiet rural locations. After the Foot and Mouth outbreak, this clause was removed with an argument that having more ‘legitimate’ access was actually a detterent to any thieves and baddies. It may be worth advancing the same argument.

SaxonRider – Member

The financial argument may be one worth stressing. If examples of increased trade in regions where MTBing is unhindered by crap legislation could be cited in evidence (and I have no idea whether or not it can be), then it seems worth putting to them.

The perfect example is the Laggan Wolftrax project, it paid for itself in a year in terms of benefit to the local area- cost £250000 to build the initial centre, 50% of visitors to the area only went because of Wolfrax, 74% had travelled a distance (outwith Highlands and Islands), 50% stayed overnight… The economic benefit was rated as £285000 locally and £570000 in Scotland as a whole. That’s an outrageous set of numbers, even assuming that they’ve been sugarcoated it’d need to be exaggerated by over 100% in order for it to fail to have been of
economic benefit after just 1 year.

You have to ask “WHY”

+1

FWIW after Mod has changed the topic, the issue is not ‘no night riding’, the issue is ‘NO riding of any kind 24/7’.

–> forest harvesting and haulage –> £££ –> FSNI.

Yep no more biking in my woods…

What was the thread title before?

Of concern are clauses that propose that it will become ILLEGAL to be in a forest on a bike (other than in a ‘designated area’), and ILLEGAL to be in a forest AT ALL (whether on foot or bike) after dark, with hefty fines attaching to both.

Maybe mountain bikers and doggers should unite to take action? 🙂

Pathetic.
Scew em’, just ride it anyway.

Fired off my response. Its always been this way here, there are zero actively maintained mtb trails on public land anywhere in NI. These byelaws are specifically anti-mtb though, and introduce fines of up to £1000 just for cycling in the woods. If they get this locked down it wont change for decades.

Not good 😥

It’s hard to believe, but the last D in DARD stands for development.

If this goes ahead, I’d hope it won’t stop us from doing what we love. I know it’ll make no difference to me and i’ll continue to ride and build where I consider appropriate. F them. I know plenty who feel the same.

It’s their attitude towards cycling that gets me. How could anyone with a soul be anti cycling? Soul-less, lazy, backward people without a soul?

Then this bit… Cycling only permitted in designated areas???

Where exactly? I’ve ridden a fair few places (it’s not a big place) and the only designated areas I recall, would struggle to be classed as mild cross country. Are they trying to banish mountainbikes from our beautiful isle? The cheek.

If you think it would help and you’ve got a few spare minutes, fire an email off to yer woman Jan.

Wabs!

Thanks for all your support chaps. The campaign is gathering momentum and letters have been sent to MPs, MLAs, Councillors and Civil Servants. Local papers have also ran the story and there is even a Facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fight-fining-us-for-being-in-a-forest-after-dark-in-Northern-Ireland/136767126399001?sk=wall

Wish us luck!

I’d echo Penguinni’s post. Please ‘like’ the Facebook page, even if you don’t know where Northern Ireland is!

If you don’t and they do get away with excluding us from the forests here, we’ll only end up annoying you by heading over to the mainland and getting in your way at trail centres.

Click here for the Facebook page…

I’ve emailed them again today with this link and comment;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-13797283

“Scottish companies are being urged to take advantage of a predicted 30% growth in mountain biking in Scotland over the next five years….the activity already generated £119m a year for the Scottish economy. Market share is predicted to increase to £155m in the next five years.”

If Scotland is seeing off road cycling as such a significant boost to its tourist industry then for Northern Ireland to remove access rights for cyclists would seem to be, in purely economic terms if nothing else, a very odd decision.

just got a response.

Trouble is I’m not clear if the peopel makign the decsion about access are the sort of people who need to give two hoots about income from tourism?

wheelz – Member

If you don’t and they do get away with excluding us from the forests here, we’ll only end up annoying you by heading over to the mainland

What, France?

What, France?

If that’s what it takes…

Totally hilarious…………

It would appear that after all the great work that has been done to secure forests dedicated to mountain biking in N.Ireland there’s a sting in the tail after all. What a surprise……….

Good to see modern, forward thinking engagement with the people who actually pay for and use forests in Ulster.

BST? No! GMT? No! UMT (Ulster Mean time) turn the clocks back 60 years and grab a pitch fork!

I think the same arguments about curfew were put forward when the UK gov was sorting out the CROW Act2000. Fortunately it didnt make it. Security is often cited but what you end up with is a quite empty land for people to sneak about in rather than people crashing about with lights and noise and the like keeping the place busy.