Quad bike crackdown: Is it too late?

However, landowners say the Government move may be too late to protect fragile areas of the countryside.

Rural Affairs Minister, Alun Michael, called for new laws to prevent damage to rights of way from motor vehicles.

He wants to see scrapped the existing principle that modern vehicles can use the tracks because they were used in the past by horse-drawn carriages.

His comments followed consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on proposals to address widespread concerns over the damage caused to ancient and often fragile tracks by bikes, quads and 4x4s.

The consultation response - The Government's Framework for Action - includes new guidance to better enforce existing powers to manage vehicle use and legislation to limit the basis on which new rights of way may be acquired for vehicles.

Jon Avison, head of park management at the national park authority, said: "The authority shares the minister's concerns regarding the effects of vehicles on sensitive routes and the impact that that use has on other users.

"Recreational vehicular use of green lanes is one of the most contentious recreational issues facing the national park and one that generates the most concern from the public. The majority of routes in the Dales are environmentally sensitive and well used by other users."

The authority was working with North Yorkshire County Council to test the use of traffic regulation orders to stop vehicles using certain routes and to measure the effects on the environment and other users.

Mr Avison said the minister's statement supporting the use of this type of order was encouraging. "The authority also welcomes the intention to change legislation so that evidence that a route has been historically used by horse-drawn vehicles will not lead to the establishment of modern vehicular rights," he said. "However, it is important that this provision is brought in as soon as possible and that it addresses current cases."

The Country Land and Business Association warned that irresponsible and anti-social off-road driving would continue to threaten Yorkshire's countryside in spite of the crackdown.

The organisation welcomed closure of the legal loophole which allowed modern vehicles on ancient ways but said gaps remained in the legislation.

Yorkshire regional director Dorothy Fairburn said: "Until the new laws come into force, 'byways open to all traffic' can still be added to the definitive map of rights of way and so will still result in modern recreational vehicles using even the most vulnerable green lanes. The delay in legislation will lead to a flood of these applications.

"Inappropriate off-road driving will still be a problem even after these new laws have been enacted. The Government's plan misses the legal point that where someone has evidence of greater rights of usage on existing rights of way and other land, this overrides whatever is recorded on the definitive map. It also looks like there is nothing in the legislation to stop the irresponsible off-roader continuing to drive illegally.

"Our worry is that existing problems will shift to entirely unused routes that have not yet been claimed as rights of way."

Announcing his proposals, Mr Michael said: "We need a rights of way network that responds to the needs of the twenty-first century, not a network based solely on historic use patterns. The pressures of modern day use are very different to those a hundred or more years ago and new legislation is needed to reflect these changes.

"It is not right that future use for leisure purposes by four wheel drive vehicles, quad bikes and motorbikes is established because horses or horse-drawn vehicles used a route long before motorised vehicles were commonplace. At present, other considerations - like the environmental impact, the effect on local people, or the effect on other users - cannot be taken into account.

"There is a place in our countryside for all users of rights of way, whether on foot or on four wheels, but the use must be responsible, sustainable and appropriate."

Geoff Wilson, speaking on behalf of recreational vehicle users, urged the national park authority to work with users to agree ways in which all could enjoy the countryside.

Mr Wilson, of Penrith, in Cumbria, said vehicle users supported the minister's aims and comments but open discussion was needed to make them work.

"The national park authority says it is working with the county council to test traffic regulation orders to stop vehicular use on certain routes," he said. "In saying this, the authority deserves to have RV users showing them how ineffective TROs can be if the reason for applying them is not appreciated as genuine. Testing compliance is not the same as testing how you may stop use."

Mr Wilson pointed out that Mr Michael had recognised there was a place for mechanically propelled vehicles in the countryside.

Mr Michael also said: "Many byways are used by motor vehicles, apparently for recreation, without any detriment to the character of the way or the enjoyment of other users."

Mr Wilson said Government consultation showed that only 1.85pc of rights of way had public vehicle access. "On to that minute proportion is crammed all 4x4s, all trail riders, as well as cyclists, equestrians, walkers, sporting interests, forestry access, residential and land access," he said.