Who are green lanes for?
Off-roaders have a legal right to drive on Byways Open to All Traffic. So ill-feeling towards them is a symptom of a wider problem.
The question of whether people should be allowed to drive 4x4 vehicles on so-called green lanes has been vexing members of the Rough Stuff Fellowship.
The Fellowship is the the UK’s oldest off-road cycling club. I’m a member, so I’ve seen the debate about green lanes – or, to give them their proper name, byways open to all traffic (BOATs) – play out in the letters pages of the club’s journal over the last couple of years.
Many people who enjoy off-roading in 4x4 vehicles like to drive them along green lanes. These tracks may look like little more than wide bridle paths, but the drivers have a historic legal right to use them. Not everyone is happy about this. And some people want off-roaders banned, arguing they do too much damage and cause too much disturbance.
I’m no fan of 4x4s and in many ways a ban would suit me just fine. Yet the idea of cyclists campaigning to deny other people their legal right to access the countryside really troubles me. Cyclists in England and Wales should know only too well what it feels like to be on the wrong end of access rights.