LANING LIFE

by Lauren Eaton

Read about green laning as seen through Lauren ‘Sunshine’ Eaton's windscreen at The Green Lane Association, and find out what’s hot, or not, in the laning world each month. Enjoy!

It has been a while since we did a piece that addresses many of the most common queries, questions, or misunderstandings in the laning world so we thought we would cover both old and new questions we get asked regularly, even daily in some cases!

These can be applied permanently, temporarily (TTRO), seasonally, or for specific reasons such as making a road one way, limiting access to certain types of vehicles or vehicles of certain widths or weights.

They can also be experimental (ETRO) or applied in an emergency situation such as a landslide. While there are a lot of reasons they can be implemented, they are not something that only applies to lanes. They are used on all types of public highway and thousands of them are applied for and imposed on roads every year, the minority are applied on unsurfaced roads.

Temporary TROs can last up to 18 months on an unsurfaced unclassified county road (UCR) and up to 6 months on a byway open to all traffic (BOAT). Temporary orders are not subject to the same process as permanent orders, and can be made without the same public consultations.

Before a permanent Order can be applied, this could be an order to stop one type of user forever, or for each winter, or to make a road one way only, a proposal must be made, and the public must be consulted first.

This is the point in the process where we have the opportunity to have our say on the matter, and while GLASS will oppose any proposals that we believe should not go ahead, numbers count and the more people who make representations to the local authority the better.

Opposing a TRO isn’t difficult. Simply say what you want to say and email or post it to the address on the proposal. You don’t need to include in depth technical or legal arguments, the fact that you gain some form of benefit from using a public highway and that would be removed if the Order goes ahead is a valid reason to object. Keep your response polite, any ranting or aggression is unlikely to have the outcome you want!

There is a process that local authorities must follow so that the order can be legally made and be enforceable. Sometimes this process is not followed and that is where GLASS can step in and act, we have taken this action to Judicial Review level in the past.

There was a recent TRO Reform consultation, this looked at making the advertisement of proposed TROs more up to date using technology and a centralised system for all notices. This will make it far easier for the public to find information. That process is likely to take years to launch, but in the meantime, GLASS receives all notices, and we spend time rifling through them to identify those that will potentially affect our hobby.

The Review itself was a positive thing, it talked about access for all, access for more types of user, and even mentioned that the historical preferential treatment of certain user groups above others was not appropriate and needed to change.

It was the questions in the public consultation that were incongruous with that message and were clearly aimed at motorised users.

The Review only pertains to England, and then only the National Parks within the country. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty were mentioned, basically to ask should they be given the same powers as National Parks (which incidentally they already have), but it does not affect Wales or the areas between the Parks.

Yes, it is, that’s why we made such a fuss about getting as many people to respond to the consultation as possible, but rest assured that never in the history of laning have our interests ever been so well represented.

People may be harking back to NERC (the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006) when we lost 50% or more of our rights overnight, but there are huge differences in the scope of the Landscapes Review compared to NERC. There are also massive differences in the general political climate, and even bigger differences when it comes to what GLASS is and does to tackle these challenges.

To read the GLASS response to the Review consultation, go to https://www.glass-uk.org/lsrresponse

This is a common misconception. There are two types of lane, the first (but less common thanks to NERC) are byways open to all traffic (BOAT) which are defined as in law in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 as

You’ll find these on the Definitive Map, and they are the responsibility of the rights of way department of the local council.

Unclassified County Roads (UCRs) make up the majority of the roads in the UK, and the majority of green lanes. Many minor roads, including those that run through housing estates, fall into this class of highway. Is there a map of unsurfaced UCRs?

The term UCR gives no indication of what the physical road will look like, it could be an unsurfaced route, but there are far more that are surfaced, and could range from a rural tarmac single track or two-lane minor highway to the residential street you live on. A more accurate term, for laning purposes at least, would be UUCR, unsealed unclassified county roads.

Most of them appear as ORPAs (other routes with public access) on OS Maps, but not all ORPAs have motorised rights, and OS Maps are not a legal record of public rights.

Others may be shown as white or yellow roads, but not all white roads have public access, and most white and yellow roads are surfaced. UUCRs are not as simple as byways!

Section 36(6) of the Highways Act insists that local authorities provide a list of publicly maintainable streets, therefore they are recorded on the List of Streets along with thousands of sealed roads, but they do not appear on the Definitive Map, and are the responsibility of the Highways Authority rather than the Rights of Way team.

Not exactly. Some councils mark them on their highways maps, but they may mark all the surfaced ones too. Findmystreet is a map that shows if a highway is maintainable at public expense, but while it can be useful for checking that status, alone it is not definitive and won’t help you know if the highway is a UUCR or a tarmac road. This is why Trailwise2 is so useful!

No, no we don’t, and in fact we could do with a lot more people who are able to 'talk about lanes' at decision-maker level!

It seems some people think it’s ok for a national organisation, that is very much in the public eye, to break the law and potentially drop itself into a lot of legal trouble!

Think about it, there are around 20,000 lanes in the UK that we know about - we add more each year, and the odd one we lose. Maintenance work can range from volunteers cutting back overgrowth, that costs GLASS a small amount in time and resources doing all the health and safety paperwork, supplying tools, insurance, etc., to serious groundworks that can cost tens of thousands of pounds, and require ticketed workers to carry out large scale works on public highways using massive machines.

We might be bigger than ever, but we simply couldn’t afford to fix or maintain all the lanes!

What we do also sets a precedent. If we give our resources away for free, instead of insisting that councils do their legal duty, nothing will change. While physical work is a great thing for us to do occasionally, and it can open doors to us and build relationships with locals and decision makers, it simply cannot be the bread and butter of GLASS.

We already pay for the maintenance of the lanes through our taxes, membership fees are far better spent being used to protect our rights and keep an eye on where our tax money gets spent! This is why most other user groups don’t get involved in as much physical work as GLASS historically has.

Overall, the most important work that impacts our rights goes on off the lanes in meetings, negotiation, mediation, and sometimes legal action if we cannot avoid it. It really is the only sustainable way forward, and it is changing perceptions of what GLASS is, who green laners are, and that both can be a vital resource (rather than an unwelcome presence!) to managing authorities, if they let us sit at their table.

A lot of the big stuff happening is legal action and while cases are live, we cannot provide details until the process has concluded. Thankfully, through negotiation, we have avoided heading to court in the vast majority of cases.

Through negotiation we have secured solutions in a far more amicable and less costly manner which is brilliant!

It is possible that I may have some news on the Whitestones case for the June issue; I can’t promise anything, asking how long a legal case will take is like asking how long a Land Rover can drive before it breaks down, we simply never know! New cases will be started over the next month now that Whitestones is nearing the end of the process.

Hopefully, by the time the next issue is published we will have either published, or be ready to publish, our first paper on green lane management.

This is a huge step forward! The paper is a consolidation of tried and tested strategies and working practices, which also brings together all the law, guidance, and advice on all aspects of best practice. It’s basically a one-stop guide of what historically hasn’t worked and what has proven to work, and it brings a human element into the mix.

Managing authorities must consider the needs of users, so we are bringing the users to them through case studies, as well as evidencing how working with us is far better for everyone than working against us.

It currently stands at a whopping 27,500 words and has taken years to research, and months to write. By the time you read this it will be out for peer review before publishing, and I will be massaging my typing fingers and putting my brain on charge! It’s been no small feat!

Last, but by no means least, we have a new video out, Jim's Story -https://youtu.be/wLZ6-KepiLE . If you know Jim, you’ll know he’s a top bloke, and for those who don’t here’s a little insight into the man and legend we are very proud to have on board as our largest affiliate. He also appears in our next video which will be launched very soon.

It’s now almost 1am on a Sunday (well Monday), I have a meeting with our solicitor and barrister first thing, and I’ve waffled on for long enough, so that’s very much all from me this month folks! Happy laning and drive safe! Lauren & Celyn (below) x