Since early 2017, green laning in Cumbria has become a bit of a controversial subject. Prior to this, it was enjoyed as a very quiet and almost peaceful past time by a small group of people for over 20+ years.
Mostly, the negative attention is down to one man, a Dutchman who owns a holiday home in Little Langdale. He lives in London most of the time and worked for the BBC as a senior producer for the World Service. He's owned his holiday home in the Lakes for around 15 years now apparently.
From the beginning of his efforts, it was clear there was to be no reasoning with his mindset and also that he hadn't done much or if any research into the reality of the situation on the ground, he just set his mind to getting two lanes closed that were near to his holiday home and appears happy to throw away his integrity to achieve this goal. This post is all about his antics and the behaviour that has been evident from several parties since his entrance into the world of green laning.
High Tilberthwaite, (U5001) and High Oxen Fell Road, (U5004).
One of his tactics, which continues to this day, is to use the term 'off-roaders'. In this instance however, these are roads, so in truth, as long as a vehicle is road legal, it can be used on these roads perfectly legally. So the term is at best misleading, but often used to be derogatory. The aim would appear to be to demonise the entire user group and thus lend credence to his statements. (nb. Anybody who is actually going 'off road' may be acting illegally in the majority of the UK unless they have the land owner permission or are performing a task such as installing utilities, farming etc. All of which are very common in Cumbria).
These two roads are unsurfaced unclassified county roads, (UCR's for short), which means they do not have a top like tarmac etc, and have been used since they were first built. In some cases, used as quarry roads or for agricultural purposes, lots were old transport roads and more lately, tourism.
Over at least the last 100 years, recreational motoring has been a past time in Cumbria, indeed the celebrated Abraham Brothers, photographers, who were the first people to cross several of the then unsurfaced high fell passes in Lakeland and record them in photos and articles for newspapers.
As with all the green roads in England and Wales, there is no maintenance budgets, virtually no repairs completed annually, and since the implementation of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, (NERCA) in 2006, which saw a huge percentage of unsurfaced roads closed for various reasons in a very short space of time, any budgets were redirected to other Rights of Way. The effect of NERCA on the remaining road network has so far shown a huge rate of closure. Estimates indicate by well over 50% of its pre 2006 status. That much loss of access has not been experienced by any other user group and the ongoing effects are significant to the remaining network.
The Dutchman's main target appeared to begin with a company who uses the green roads for commercial guided trips, but quickly spread to include all 4x4 users in the first place and in more recent months has now included motorbikes.
Comments such as 'There are no green lanes in my country and there should not be any here' were used at the start of his campaign, as was a statement saying that he lived 'full time in the valley'.
Whenever he was challenged about the validity of his statements, they were changed immediately with no explanation or reasoning. His blog and letters, to this day, refuse to take into account any reasonable argument that does not align with his rhetoric. One real irony of his campaign was shown in a statement whereby he criticised the Lake District National Park Authority heavily for not implementing a closure on any of these roads, yet one was implemented outside his own front door, of which he appeared to be oblivious.
Over time, a small group of people became attached to his methods and ideals, so he then started the 'Save Langdale' group, which soon changed to 'Save the Lake District' and lately has become 'Lake District Green Lane Alliance', albeit his blog still remains. The LDGLA is a subsidiary of an England and Wales wide organisation.
Along with all of the changes in names came links with the Green Lane Environmental Action Group, (GLEAM), whose stated aim is to close all green lanes in England and Wales. His rhetoric also changed and became more aggressive as their joint experiences and skill sets came together.
The two things all of these groups share in common is their impressive ability to twist any positives into a negative and to create a lot of attention grabbing headlines such as 'World Heritage Status Threatened' and '4x4's Destroying the Lake District'. Another one was 'Lakes Farmer fed up with off road vehicles ripping up vital track'. Possibly due to his media background and connections.
These started to be seen in a local south Cumbrian newspaper, the Westmorland Gazette, where one of his articles was titled 'The Lake District - A Cultural Landscape Under Threat'. This article was so full of inaccuracies that the local green road user groups decided enough was enough and started to investigate the claims and to put forth some challenge the content.
Interestingly, the Westmoland Gazette has never tried to investigate the accuracies in any of these articles, the editor appears to just accept them as verbatim and publish them on behalf of the Dutchman and his partners. When challenged, there is no response.
The Motor Vehicle Groups challenge and questioning of the truth behind such statements that Beatrix Potter lived in a quiet and peaceful valley, which would be interesting to have seen, as the quarrying and mining at that time was on a huge scale. The stone quarried in Langdale went on to meet demand from both the UK and the rest of the world and is highly prized. Also tourism, agriculture and many other industries were all in operation across the Lakes. All of which is well evidenced by historic writings, images and studies.
The farmer at High Tilberthwaite farm, who retired in 2018, stating that his family would not renew the tenancy agreement for the farm due to 'a long standing dispute with the National Trust', (who own the farm) and also stated 'The state of the road has deteriorated to such an extent, that we are no longer able to carry on our farm practices as we should be able to'. This was reported in the Westmorland Gazette to much local outrage.
Ironically, the maintenance of the road is the responsibility of Cumbria County Council and it's Highways Dept. and the National Trust. Neither of whom have any maintenance plans or budgets for the green road network in Cumbria as a whole.
Nevertheless, the Times, The Guardian and a couple of other national newspapers got involved publishing similar articles during 2018 and into 2019. What was astonishing about these was that not one of these ' professional journalists' approached any of the user groups for their side of the story.
No investigation into the integrity of the information was apparent and to this day, it would appear that that is the normal modus operandi of all of these 'professional' reporting platforms.
With his links in the BBC, there also followed some reports on the BBC News and in late 2019 Countryfile Autumn Watch ran a segment. Again, no actual investigation work appears to have been completed, yet the report was presented as 'Fact'. Complaints sent in by many of the green road user groups were all unanimously dismissed by the BBC as ungrounded.
Along the way, a petition was started which was aimed at influencing the Lake District National Park Authority's, (LDNPA) point of view, (the last time I looked at it, it had 300,000 signatures). When the LDNPA cautiously responded to any requests to immediately close these lanes, (stating that it wouldn't act until it had completed a fact based enquiry), the attacks on the credibility of the management of the LDNPA started. It went so far as to imply that because one of the LDNPA senior management rode a motorbike, he was sympathetic to the green lane community position.
Several quite blatant criticisms were made about the Chief Executive, Richard Leafe, published in the blog for the 'Save the Lake District' group.
Included in all this business, the Dutchman drafted letters to an organisation called 'World Heritage Watch', (WHW), in August 2018, which upon investigation turned out to be a pressure group who seem to believe they act as an advisory group to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO).
A claim that is not shared by UNESCO, according to their respondent to the motor vehicle groups representatives. The Dutchman sent across his commentary, that he has used consistently, and again, without any investigation, WHW began to challenge UNESCO to pressurise the LDNPA to 'deal with the situation'.
When UNESCO were contacted and the complete story was put into some comprehensive documentation, they released a statement refuting the claims of the WHW and also that the status of the Lake District World Heritage was not under any threat due to the use of motor vehicles in the National Park.
After this, an organisation called the International Council for Monuments and Sites, ICOMOS, also received the same kind of paperwork from the Dutchman, they were also contacted by the user groups from Cumbria and again the historic and more factual information was handed over.
They also did no background or validity checks on the claims and thus were pleasantly surprised to see a lot more depth information and management in place already. They withdrew their request to UNESCO to investigate further.
One thing to note here, World Heritage Status was not granted to the Lake District after a quick drive around the county and coffee. It took years, with many hours of discussions, agreements reached, issues identified, plans hatched etc etc. The green lane network existed during this time, it existed before this process was ever discussed and it exists today. UNESCO knew this, they accepted it as part of the landscape and still they were prepared to grant the status. They were also prepared to dismiss both the WHW & ICOMOS wooden spoon attempts and allow LDNPA to continue to do their job. Funny that!
Meanwhile around all of this, the LDNPA had launched a series of fact finding initiatives. These included measurements of traffic volumes, noise tests, user surveys, online surveys and at the same time scheduled a joint stakeholder project of repair, to the sum of £50,000, to bring High Tilberthwaite U5001 back upto the correct standard that all of the green roads should be at. High Oxen Fell Road, (U5004) was deemed in good condition and not necessary for a repair at this time.
Interestingly in this, money was found from within budgets of the National Trust, LDNPA and Cumbria Highways and the project was led by the LDNPA team. A specialist contractor was engaged to complete the works, which included breaking up exposed bedrock, re-installing drainage lines and resurfacing using various grades of stone sympathetic to the area.
The rhetoric of the Dutchman turned this positive into a negative and stated that the LDNPA were merely showing sympathy to the user groups and wasting public monies. However, no mention was made of the £500,000.00 spent by Fix the Fells to repair the other Rights of Way networks in the same year. Neither was there any mention of the £5 million initial plan to repair a bridleway in the northern Lake District area, which actually cost £7+ million by the time it re-opened in 2021. Nor was there any recognition for the £20,000 raised and the 100's of hours of volunteer time donated by the vehicle user groups to restore a five mile unsealed road that Storm Desmond had devastated.
No plans were being made to repair this road and so the user groups spent eighteen months getting the project to completion.
The history of the 'Hierarchy of Trails' (HoTR), management program was picked out by our Dutchman next and its 20+ year history was dug up. It was a multi user group solution led by the LDNPA team at the time in response to a similar situation in the mid 1990' begun by GLEAM. Sound familiar?
Our Dutchman was so incensed by this, that he went to town with his criticisms. He took it to the press again, wrote on his blog and generally had a rant. The fact that the user groups working with the various authorities was an outrage. It showed huge levels of favouritism for the green road user group by the LDNPA, whilst omitting to mention similar schemes operated for all the other RoW types across the county.
It continues to be used today, albeit under the responsibility of Cumbria County Council since 2006. At the time, this was a pioneering management program and was so successful, that the model has continued to be used across many other user groups today.
Around October 2019, the Cumbria Rights of Way, (RoW) Committee had been convened and they held a meeting where interested parties were allowed to put a ten minute presentation to the committee.
Prior to these presentations, the committee had made site visits and watched various YouTube based films of the roads being used, they were also given a very weighty investigation document folder with recommendations from the LDNPA RoW team. After the presentations, they agreed to proceed 5-1 with a management plan which would be developed over a series of meetings over the coming months.
We are now in 2022 and as yet await the results of this and I personally, do not envy the people involved in dealing with some of the mentalities engaged in this issue. Meanwhile, the 'Access for All' Landscapes Review which highlighted the need for increased diversity of users in national parks has a survey compiled and sent out by DEFRA for everyone to fill in. The 'Access for All', appears not to include the green road user group as there are the following questions in it!
14 Should we
give National Park Authorities and the Broads Authority and local highway
authorities additional powers to restrict recreational motor vehicle use on
unsealed routes?
- Yes
- No
- Unsure
Please
give reasons for your answer
15 For which
reasons should National Park Authorities, the Broads Authority and local
authorities exercise this power? (select all that apply)
- Environmental
protection
- Prevention
of damage
- Nuisance
- Amenity
- Other (please state)
16 Should we
legislate to restrict the use of motor vehicles on unsealed unclassified roads
for recreational use, subject to appropriate exemptions?
- Yes –
everywhere
- Yes – in
National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty only
- Yes – in
National Parks only
- No
- Unsure
Please give reasons for your
answer
I would urge anyone who is passionate about the green lane network and indeed public access to the sealed roads and the national parks and UK green spaces to fill in this survey.
I truly despair about the whole management of the green lane network when I see a government organisation bowing to the rhetoric of a group of extremely biased individuals like this and without notice or consultation with the user group concerned!
Back in the Lake District, I can only guess at the public monies spent to appease all involved here, the man hours, the research etc. All of which have come from funds that should have been used to resolve actual issues within the national park area, as opposed to satisfying personal vendettas.
One example was GLEAM instigating a Judicial Review of the LDNPA decision to reform the management group in 2020.
This cost was in excess of £70k for the Trail Riders Fellowship to be involved. GLEAM raised its share of the costs from donations by it's members. The LDNPA had to dip into it's resources to pay for the defence. The judge ruled against GLEAM on all counts. They were ordered to pay £10k in damages to the LDNPA. But that is in reality chicken feed to the actual costs involved in terms of man hours, resources etc. All of which should have benefitted the wider public in positive projects as opposed to dealing with some very bigoted individuals behaviour.
From my point of view, having been closely involved in this matter since its start, several things have become very apparent.
1. The British media and the British public do not appear to check out facts when they are written in media, they just put themselves on a emotional pedestal and react to the stimuli received, without any attempt at corroborating the information presented.
2. UNESCO, WHW & ICOMOS are as fallible as the British media and public.
3. The green road user groups give thousands of hours and money annually to the authorities to maintain their network, yet are treated with prejudice and demonised by people like the Dutchman and blamed for road conditions that are generally down to water erosion and planned neglect.
4. Other user groups do far more damage to the Lake District than all of the green road users groups put together, yet management plans are put in place every day to deal with this, funding is given and the damage is accepted at all levels of management as necessary and unavoidable. No mention is ever made of this by these pressure groups.
5. The Government seriously needs to revise its management plans for the recreational usage of the green road network and allow local authorities to see them as a positive resource rather than a negative drain on funds.
6. The likes of GLEAM, Save the Lakes and these kinds of organisations are so inherently negative in their methodology and behaviour. Their influence and the upset caused by them spans generations and ultimately harms all it touches. The Judicial Review proved this, when with one of the aspects of that case, any successful outcome on their part would have harmed every public user group in terms of access law. Myopic, bigoted and utterly selfish are the terms that spring to mind.
For my part, as someone who both lives, works and uses the landscape in the UK on a daily basis, I am appalled at what I see going on around me. The blatant bigotry, the sheer hypocrisy and the seriously poor management standards that are shown across the board, starting from the Government and cascading down through to the general public.
I have always believed that the people of the UK are generally fair minded and good people, yet in this particular issue, I see so much nasty, selfish and small minded behaviour that it has genuinely coloured my viewpoint on the country as a whole. It has made me want to fight the injustice and to challenge the kind of people that the Dutchman has become such an icon too.
The opposite side of the coin here for me, and the balance that has helped me see a slightly brighter future, has been the people I see who challenge these prejudiced attitudes and have done so for many years.
The people in the world of green laning who give huge amounts of their time, effort and money to projects to enhance the enjoyment of the countryside for all user groups and not just the chosen and limited few.
The staff at the LDNPA, who despite personal attacks and a huge amount of grief sent their way every day, manage to maintain their integrity, their viewpoint that the national park is for everyone and their continued positive and inclusive management strategies, which all user groups benefit from.
Long may there be people like this in the world and this country.
Landscapes Review Links:
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