Rushup edge resurfacing

I’d love to think that the posts to facebook will give the DCC a headache but my cynical side tginks it’ll barely be noticed- happy to be wrong though

I think I’ve squeezed “£70,000” on every post on the front page as well as a direct one on the side bar.

BMC was mentioned above as a long-established campaigning organization. Has anyone been in contact with them?

Obviously the BMC is focused on climbing, walking etc but they’re very much concerned with protection of natural environment and would explode with outrage if DCC were to treat the crags they way they’re treating the rest of the peak. Hopefully they can offer some level of support and give me something more for my subs than just the chance to buy travel insurance.

Couple of years ago I had a bad off at the foot of coldwell clough just at the end where it flattens out. Two drainage channels straight after one another. Not ridden it for years, cleared the first no problem at some serious pace, completely at fault but didn’t notice or have time to adjust for the second and I went flying up the trail. I managed to ride home over Jacobs and only the next day did the injuries start to really feel bad. Went to A&E for xrays but luckily no breaks. Could have been much worse. The ones on stanage, especially at the top I think are worse. Ridiculous, makes me angry.

Perhaps I should have taken legal action back then to recoup the £8.99 cost of the smashed bender fender, perhaps it might have made people in DCC think how ridiculous the designs are.

Does anyone have any idea how we could contact the various Derbyshire 50+ forum members? If they are having a meeting to put forward ideas for saving money on 30th October and we can get a few of them on our side, it might make life interesting for the committee members…

I’ve also emailed DCC with a nice long list of questions about the work; I got an automated response from Anne Western saying she couldn’t deal with it immediately so could I send it to michelle.archer@derbyshire.gov.uk if I required a more immediate response, so there’s another inbox to clog up!

I just saw DCC’s post calling “older people” to a workshop to share ideas on how to reduce the impact of cuts! The replies are brilliant, all along the lines of “I can suggest where you could have saved £70k”

🙂

Edit: I mean DCC’s post on their FB page!

Just off over to DCC Facebook page in a mo. Should leave at least another five ‘delete comments’ for someone to do tomorrow morning.

Just a thought, but is there a more subtle, yet still effective way of getting that surface to break up? Perhaps some holes drilled with some kind of augur so they fill with water then freeze-thaw? Wouldn’t take as long as lobbing the whole lot over the wall. Just get dolled up in some hi-viz (no one questions whether someone in hi-viz is kosher) and drill a few holes. If confronted, just say you are testing the depth of the filling.

I’m clutching at straws now, I know, but I am really not happy about all this………

I’m not condoning any physical damage to the area but if someone spilt oil on that aggregate, they’d have to dig it out to avoid environmental contamination.

Michelle Archer is Anne Westerns PA

Michelle Archer is Anne Westerns PA

But of course! Does she have a hovel at the bottom of the ivory tower in which to act as an anti-reality shield?

The DCC Facebook page is an absolute hoot to read. Quite embarrassing for them if someone important reads it. Remember that is the key. What these plonkers really want is to enforce their ‘way’ without anyone causing a scene. Keep creating a scene.

Again, good luck tomorrow for those of you who are going.

My first proper mtb ride nearly ten years ago was a solo effort at the Kinder Loop. I had a rucksack free from WHSmith, a trackie top and some Kendal mint cake. I thought it would be a bit tougher than what I’d done before, but basically ok. It was in April and it was pissing down. I nearly got lost at Kinderlow, I was shit-up, freezing and in shock at how technically challenging I found it. I fell off a fair few times, once otb into a bog.

I was hooked. It was a challenge, I’d done it, and no one could take that away from me. I’d done the rite of passage that was the Kinder loop.

Now, I just can’t get excited about that route, so much of it has been made sterile. DCC are taking this sense of adventure away from us, but at least I rode it before they got their stupid mitts on it. Future riders won’t.

Imbeciles.

This might be a bit too ‘Greenham Common’, but it sums things up quite neatly.

Just posted a post on my facebook letting all my friends in Derbyshire know how their money is being wasted and giving them a point of contact in the council to contact regarding this. I would suggest that other people who have friends and relatives in Derbyshire do the same thing and help really spread the word about this waste of money- remember the average joe isn’t going to care that a path has been flatten, they are gonna care that their council taxes are being wasted while services they use and rely upon are being cut back.

This is a copy of an email that I have sent to various key people in DCC. Please feel free to use as a basis for future emails if this helps.

I must say as a DCC tax payer I am quite angry at the misuse of the road maintenance budget when I could name many actual roads in need of desperate repair.

Dear Sirs,

I write to you as a concerned Derbyshire Resident regarding the trail resurfacing program currently being undertaken by Derbyshire CC. I have seen a number of ‘repairs’ undertaken on local trails including Stanage Causeway and Wibbly Lane that have destroyed iconic and popular Mountain Bike routes.

Many of the repairs have been incompetently designed and are totally unsympathetic with the previous nature of the trail. I write to you as a Mountain Biker where the surface of the trail is absolutely critical to the technical challenge and enjoyment of riding. Derbyshire and the Peak District are widely seen as one of the best natural areas to ride in the country regularly attracting riders from the surrounding area and further afield such as London and the Home Counties.

This is in part due to the fantastic scenery, rugged terrain and also historical pack horse routes that cut through many of the upland areas.

Despite this Derbyshire CC are undertaking a program of ‘repairs’ that could only be described as wanton ecological vandalism. Rushup Edge is currently undergoing repairs which are totally unnecessary. The current route runs along the exposed Gritstone Bedrock that has been exposed and weathered over the years to form a challenging climb and decent not only for Mountain Bikers but also walkers. This is a safe, durable and popular trail.

This historical track is currently being covered with large boulders as part of an ‘unnecessary’ repair scheme. As not only a historical track but a vitally important section of many classic Mountain Bike routes the repairs will ruin this link make and in previous experience make it more dangerous for cyclists.

This has generated a real anger in the Mountain Biking Community. This anger has been building over the past few years as our voice has simply been ignored by the Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire CC. As a relatively new sport Mountain Biking does not have the historical and influential organisations to lobby for our interests such as the British Mountaineering Council for Climbers and the British Equestrian Federation for Horse riders. We find that often our views are simply ignored.

As you may be aware Peak District MTB was recently established to address this very issue has been consulting with PDNPA and DCC but with little success.

Peak District MTB

Peak District MTB

I am not aware of any consultation that has been forthcoming on the current works.

Whilst I would accept that a national park should seek to make as many of the trails accessible for all this should not be at the cost of destroying historic trails. There are and should be a variety of trails to suit all disciplines and ability. It is the destruction of the key classic mountain bike trails that are of concern as there are limited routes that meet these criteria. If more key trails are lost Mountain Biking as a sport will be severely limited in the Peak District to sanitised family trails. This would be tremendous loss and the reputation as a Mountain Bike destination would be lost.

However it is not just the wanton vandalism that concerns me. I and many others in the local area are outraged that £70k of tax payers money is being used to fund this destruction in a time of austerity where the condition of the local roads would warrant the funding far more.

As a Derbyshire resident I would like an explanation as to why these repairs are necessary and a justification for the type of repairs being undertaken.

Yours Sincerely,

This saga could use one of those subtitled Hitler clips!

I work for a government organisation and deal with public safety in the countryside. There is a website and book that may be of some interest/ help and the PDNPA are actually one of the contributors. Obviously not enforcing their own advice.

Do not take away people’s sense of freedom and adventure
Do not destroy the appeal of wild and remote places by putting up signs and
fences, or making paths to urban standards. People should be free to participate in high risk or adventurous activities as long as they are aware of the risks. Riders of mountain bikes should not be prevented from experiencing the exhilaration of steep descents and challenging drops, if that is their informed choice

http://www.VSCG.co.uk worth a read.

Has anyone sent a copy to DCC?

mjr31

That is absolutely brilliant. Thanks for that 🙂

Someone needs get some screenshots of the DCC page stuff. I daresay they will delete it all.

I have a poor signal on my phone

Has anyone sent a copy to DCC?

They wouldn’t have the first inclination to read it. They have decided there is a problem (there isn’t). They are going to fix that goddamn problem, goddamn it. In fact, they are taking the non-existent problem so seriously they are going to spend £70,000 fixing it. At least then they will know it has been done properly.

Short-sighted halfwits.

I think you’re being generous about their level of wit.

Just put in a FOI request to Anne Western. Basically asking for an outline of the tendering process (specified no £s figures needed, so they can’t bat it away as commercially sensitive), an idea of what level approval would be required to spend £70,000, and what led to the decision that action had to be taken (incident? lots of complaints?)

I’ve never done this before, but I was very polite.

Even if they brush me off, I guess it’s another bit of hassle for them. Hopefully we will make them so pissed off that someone gets a bollocking and they think twice in future.

But probably not.

I wonder if the contractors (ie the ones receiving the £70k ) are in any way related to /friends of the key DCC decision makers…?

It’s one of three things, either some high up is getting back handers from the contractors/aggregate company, someone high up really doesn’t like mountain bikers or someone high up has been caught by a photographer **** a goat and the photographer doesn’t like mountain bikers.

or back to reality they had some money to spend and they spent it. Either that or they have a view of the peak district that does not include mountain bikers. So what are the best footpaths to ride in the peak district?

Best of luck to all those who can make the picnic today. Keep us all posted please.

Good luck picnickers

Have the local papers and media been made aware of the picnic or the £70,000?

I believe someone has contacted all forms of press. Wife saw it on pdmtb I think.

Various press and media have been informed

Feel free to keep the pressure up on the dcc faceache pages. Surely with enough of us, we can comment faster than they can delete.

@mjr thanks, that’s very useful !

@frodo, I wonder whether its best not to use the word “trails” and just stick with Bridleways and/or rights of way ?

@onzadog – I think it’s much more likely its people who want to see less mountain bikers in the Peak District. Given hardly any of ride Chapel Gate now they probably think that’s a success.

I don’t know the area but is there a really popular footpath that all the ramblers use?
Obviously this must be subject to a lot of erosion. Can we not take the needs of the ramblers seriously and get their footpaths resurfaced.
Preferable with shingle so it’s like walking on the beach.
Invade the walkers forums. “It’s not fair that the bikers get a lovely new surface and us walkers have to walk in mud. Actual **** mud , I once got my boots dirty.”
Let’s get the budget wasted on footpaths.

Er, without wanting to sound funny, but did any other DCC residents get a magazine through last week stating that they had to cut £137 million odd from their budget in the next year? The timing was hilarious.

It also had the Christmas bin dates on the back. Unfortunately mine ended up on the woodburner before I got chance to read it properly but if anyone still has it please could they put up the exact figures to support the letter I am currently writing.

Found it online- £157 million in saving by 2018. Destruction of the Peak District must be phenomenally important to them. Especially given that there was a council tax increase back in January!

http://www.itv.com/news/central/topic/derbyshire-county-council/

The speeding up of bikes is a point worth repeating and I imagine many ramblers etc would be interested in.

The coldwell clough descent is now a loose bouldery nightmare, the only way to ride up it is pushing, the only way down is FAST!

If we made these trails MORE technical, with chicanes and steps – we’d slow bikes down. Reducing the speed differential between walkers and riders that share the trail.

That’s the way to ‘sell it in’ to a council. The fact that this would be more challenging and fun for MTBers could be seen as a by product! 😉

@frodo, I wonder whether its best not to use the word “trails” and just stick with Bridleways and/or rights of way ?

As an outsider, this seems a very important point. Seems to me the best course of attack is “what a waste of money when the council is cutting funding for xxx” and “work is totally out of character with surroundings”. Rather than “you are destroying my trails”.

Just sent this to these e-mail addresses (thought I’d put a list up as it took me searching through all the pages to find them). Hope it’ll make a difference, though fear it won’t.

eteprow@derbyshire.gov.uk

robert.greatorex@derbyshire.gov.uk

Peter.White@derbyshire.gov.uk

mike.ashworth@derbyshire.gov.uk

anne.western@derbyshire.gov.uk

michelle.archer@derbyshire.gov.uk

And Edale Parish Council’s address, who I copied in so they could have a ponder of the bit about me probably not visiting Edale anymore.

edaleparishcouncil@gmail.com

As a DCC council tax payer I am writing in bafflement and anger about the works that DCC are currently undertaking on the Rushup Edge byway. It has been brought to my attention that this right of way is currently undergoing similar treatment to other routes such as Chapel Gate, the byway from Shatton Moor into Bradwell and the Long Causeway involving the placement of many tons of loose cobbles covered in an ugly top dressing, and that this work will be costing £70,000.

I am asked by DCC to pay council tax every month and it is infuriating to see this money wasted on unnecessary projects such as this, especially given that back in January you asked for an increase in council tax. I have been aware of the work at the other sites listed above but the work currently taking place on Rushup Edge is the first time the astronomical cost of these follies has been brought to my attention. I fail to comprehend why, when I got a DCC magazine through the letterbox last week stating that due to the loss of government grants DCC would need to make £157 million in cuts by 2018, there has suddenly been £70,000 spare found to not spend on saving someone’s job, or on social care, or on health service but on placing many tonnes of aggregate on a track that was made up of entirely natural bedrock.

There has been a rash of these projects undertaken by DCC over recent years and they have all been exceptionally unsympathetic to the surrounding area and have been undertaken with little or no consideration for visitors to the Peak District National Park, or consultation with user groups. Chapel Gate is the most notorious one to my mind- a mostly natural route of gritstone which blended in with the surrounding landscape replaced by an eye sore of black road planings which can be seen from a long way away, completely at odds with its environment.

It is disappointing to find that a similar activity is currently taking place on Rushup Edge. Both Rushup Edge and Chapel Gate are part of a very popular route with cyclists and walkers taking in the Roych and Jacob’s Ladder. By grading the paths to almost road-like standards the enjoyment and satisfaction of being in nature is being eroded faster than the trails ever were. It must be glaringly obvious to you that carrying out projects like this will only serve to repel visitors from the area, reducing the income for DCC from parking fees and, more importantly, the income for Derbyshire’s cafes, bed and breakfasts, pubs and shops frequented by hikers and cyclists.

In previous years I have had groups of ten to twenty cyclists from a club in Scotland staying with me, spending money on food and drink and the inevitable replacement bike parts in the Hope Valley. The last time they visited was in 2011 and on my recommendation took in a route including a descent of Chapel Gate. To my horror this had been smoothed out and they returned having had a dull and boring ride. As a result of this they have not come back to the Peak District, preferring the Lake District and Scotland for a trip away now.

I cycle, walk and run in the area myself and if DCC continues with the smoothing out of popular byways I will probably drive the extra hour to Snowdonia on a weekend. This piece of trail sanitisation on Rushup Edge has effectively put the final nail in the coffin of the Rushup/Roych/Jacob’s Ladder route for me. Over the past few years Chapel Gate, then the Roych, Coldwell Clough, then the climb to Edale Cross and now Rushup Edge have all had work done to them to the point where they are less interesting, scenic or unique than they were, to the point where doing this route isn’t worth the effort for what natural tracks remain. It was the only route I regularly did starting in Edale, and I hope that my custom in the cafe there and parking charges I paid will not be missed.

The work on Rushup Edge is perhaps the most bizarre of those listed in that this right of way is mostly down to natural bedrock and has been for many years. I am a geologist by profession and would like to point out that at bedrock level the passing of feet and tyres will contribute practically zero erosion to the surface. This means that the tipping of aggregate onto it will not protect anything. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the tracked heavy plant used to place the aggregate has done more damage than would have ever taken place otherwise.

This waste of money is especially ironic given that Asher Lane in Ripley is in desperate need of resurfacing. This is a proper road, not a byway or bridleway used for pleasure, and where it descends beneath the A38 is barely passable by a road bicycle. I cycle this on my way home three times a week and this road is actively dangerous with potholes and badly repaired patches liable to knock cyclists off line regardless of speed. I understand that much of the resurfacing in the Peak District has been undertaken with a vague notion of increasing safety, but given that a smooth track will only increase the speed of cyclists and the presence of huge drainage bars create further scope for accidents at these increased speeds the alleged repair of these trails can only do more harm than good.

I politely request that you reconsider any future work on rights of way in the National Park and allocate the taxes I am paying more wisely on essential services in the county.

Thread that is on UKClimbing at the moment:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=601079&v=1#x7912468

Just the following posted on BMC FB page and emailed the area reps for PD

Hi Henry,

I’m not sure whether you are aware of the resurfacing of the Rushup Edge bridleway which is currently underway? Derbyshire CC appear to have commissioned contractors to cover up and flatten the trail to the cost of some £70,000. If the work is similar to other projects in the vicinity we can expect the exposed natural bedrock to be covered with road planings, making the path seriously out of kilter with the surroundings.

This bridleway is of historical importance and many argue that having endured years of weathering and erosion it was now stable, unable to erode much more and the exposed rock added to the beauty of the rugged landscape in the Dark Peak.

The bridleway is also very popular in the mountain biking community and there is a lot of anger at this work, which is being conducted without any consultation with the user group even though there have been attempts to work with DCC. Unfortunately, mountain biking in the UK does not currently have such a well established and respected orgainsation such as the BMC who can represent our views and campaign for our issues. However, many mountain bikers are also hill walkers and climbers and I feel that we all share similar interests in preserving and respecting our natural landscapes.

I am writing as a concerned hill user and would like to know whether you have any clout in helping us stop this work. There is a small protest occurring today from 10am on Rushup Edge where other concerned citizens are hoping to raise the profile of this case and put a stop to the work.

For more information, read more here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rushup-edge-resurfacing

And the group Peak District MTB has a facebook group with additional information:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeakDistrictMTB/
http://www.peakdistrictmtb.org/

Is anyone posting any updates from the picnic for those of us stuck in the office? I’m getting texts from a friend who’s there with her toddler but can’t find anything else! Solidarity to everyone who’s turned out anyway.