Funnily enough, I’ve just had a two hour meeting on exactly that…
We have until September to formally respond, so we are going to sit down and develop a detailed document regards the different proposals and questions. The headline proposal for all of us is of course regards footpaths, but there are some technical details that require clarity regards taking 1984 act cycle tracks into the definitive map as ‘cycle paths’ and a few other points, plus of course the access land issue. This will take a couple of weeks at least to pull together an extensive and fully consulted response.
Suffice to say, when that is drafted, Its fairly certain that you will see a Cycling-UK campaign to get support for the response for the cycling community. Although the last one was an email pro-forma type, I think its likely that this one might require a bit more engagement from supporters to really ram home what a development this is for MTB. Some ideas have been discussed, but I’ll leave you in suspense for now.
Obviously, its even better if people are willing to sit down and write their own responses to the proposals and questions using the link above especially persuading the WG to take that extra step and permitting bikes on access land (so that we enjoyed the same access as walkers and horse riders)
Approaching your AM? Brilliant, do it – and if I can suggest to any of you that pestering your local pub, bike shop, bike cafe, bike-friendly B&B, doctor, mental health nurse etc. to write in supporting increased cycle access because of the health, economy and tourism aspects are absolutely vital to winning the argument.
I would also add that, on a related note we met with a Ramblers and BHS a couple of weeks ago, plus a couple of National Parks and Natural England this week – DEFRA are starting to take notice, as are National Trails -This advocacy work is really starting to dig in deep now, the noises coming out of some of these places are really positive, change really is on the horizon.