North Essex and Saffron Walden Bridleways Group minutes

Minutes of a Meeting of the North Essex Bridleways Society and the Saffron Walden Riding Club Bridleways Group held at the Plough, Radwinter at 8.00 pm Thursday 22^nd February, 2007

Present: Hannah Collins, Babette Whitehead, Jane Cleaver, Carol Grant, Sarah Burton, Ray Cleaver, Graham Cook, David Haylock, Garron Baines, Jan Rennie

Garron opened the meeting by relating how he had first become interested in the sad state of the local byways. This lead to the formation of the Saffron Walden Riding Club group following the Club's AGM. Garron then met with David Haylock to discuss the possibility of the two groups working together. Garron said that the S.W. group had met with the County Council to discuss what could be done to improve the state of local byways and bridleways. The meeting was very productive, the C.C. recognised the need for TROs on many of the byways because 4wds were badly eroding their surfaces. The S.W. group felt that they now had a very constructive relationship with the C.C. Garron produced some extraordinary photos that he had taken to illustrate the dreadful state of some of the local tracks.

Garron said that he had met with Gorden Hands who had a wealth of knowledge about the rights of ways in the area. Gorden had expressed his full support and felt it would be of great benefit if the SW group and the N. E. group merged.

Garron said that the S.W. group had met to formulate the objectives of the group and a list of these objectives were circulated to those present (see attached sheet). Ray explained some of the history of the N.E. group. He described how some years before many of the bridleways had fallen into disuse and how the group had cleared many of the tracks themselves. They had also produced routes for local riders. He explained that many of the stalwarts of that time such as Pauline Cullen and Gordon Hands were now in their 80s.

David said that in recent years the group had tended to be reactive rather than proactive. Garron said that the C.C. now seemed very receptive to working with the group, they realised that they were not meeting their targets. The C.C. were aware that they could be the subject of litigation if an accident occurred on a right of waywhich was caused by the poor state of the surface.

Graham said that the N.E. group used to have a fighting fund for just that purpose. Hannah pointed out that insurance now often covered this problem. David said that he felt that the tracks had been falling into disrepair since Rager Barron, (once rights of way officer) had left the area. Since then there seemed to be a presumption against doing work of rights of way.

Garron said that pressure was now on the C.C. as they were in breach of their objectives. Essex has the highest incidence of horse/vehicle accidents in the country.

Carol said that the person at the C.C. who was now responsible for rights of waywas new to the area but seemed very keen and was anxious to plan the next meeting with the group.

Garron said that there should be sufficient funding as it was finance was based on the mileage of byeways in the area. There was a discussion about the increase in 4WD traffic on tracks.

Graham said that overseees drivers were now coming to the area because of the excellent network of tracks. He said that TROs had been used effectively about 3 years ago but the C.C. had since backed off using them because of lobbying by 4WD user groups.

Ray said there was reason for optimism as there were now DEFRA schemes that could help. Where safety indicated that riders should not use the road farmers could apply for an extra subsidy if riders were allowed to use the DEFRA field margins. He described how it was now possible to ride safely from Ashen to Clare because of such a scheme. David said that under the scheme, farmers received an annual payment for 5 years and could then opt out if desired.

Garron said that the C.C. did not seem that enthusiastic about permitted routes as they could be withdrawn. He said that he had approached several landowners who had all been receptive to working with the group. Some schemes were already working successfully Spains Hall and the Thurlow Estate both had pss schemes. It was stated that local representatives were needed who would ride there local tracks and report on their condition and also seek out possibilities for new routes. Garron summerised an email received from Gordon Hands; a name must be agreed on for the new group formed by merger. It was agreed that North Essex and Saffron Walden Bridleways Group would be suitable. The NE group must have a meeting to agree to the merger.

It was agreed that David would write to all the members of the NE group informing them of the intention to merge and giving time for any objections to be made. Everyone would then be invited to a public meeting which would be held in April at Sewards End Village Hall. Garron said that he had asked Phil Wadey(?) who had had great success in opening up new routes in his area to speak at the meeting. There was a discussion as to who from the NE group would like to serve on the new committee. It was agreed that David and Ray would be valuable members of the committee because of their years of experience. Graham indicated a willingness to serve on the new committee as treasurer if required. David, Ray and Garron would liase about the composition of the new committee. It was provisionally agreed that the subscriptions for the new group would be £10 for an ordinary member, £15 for a family membership.

The meeting closed at about 9.45 pm