History of the Friends of the Ridgeway

The history of the Association is inseparable from that of the evolution of post-War legislation affecting Rights of Way and access to land.  For lovers of the countryside and of our ancient green track-ways, there is an underlying tension between conservation and quiet enjoyment and unfettered access for modern motor vehicles.

The Off-Road Problem:-  From our inception, we have campaigned for the removal of non-essential motor vehicles from The Ridgeway.  Our contention has been that the special qualities of the ancient trail are best enjoyed in peace by walkers, cyclists and horse riders.  We believe that most people choose to visit The Ridgeway to escape the pressures of the modern world, and in particular the all-invasive internal combustion engine.

The origins of The Ridgeway as an ancient highway, and the slowness of rights of way legislation to adapt to the new technology of motor traffic, allowed the recreational use of motor vehicles along most of the western half of the Trail, known as the Great Ridgeway.  At first this was not a major problem, but the rapid, post-War growth of the numbers of off-road motor bikes and 4x4s, often enjoying the challenge of surfaces not built for such use, soon created difficulties for other users.  The surface of the trail was severely damaged, becoming a sea of mud in the winter and then dangerously rutted as it dried in the summer.  The noise of the vehicles was an unpleasant accompaniment for other users and many of the vehicles were driven or ridden dangerously and aggressively. 

The National Trail:- The recommendations of the 1947 Hobhouse Committee of Parliament, on Footpaths and Access to the Countryside, and the earlier Dower Report on National Parks in England and Wales, 1945, had wide-ranging effects, including the provision of definitive maps for footpaths and other Rights of Way, and the creation of the National Parks and the NP Commission, through the subsequent National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949.  The Hobhouse Committee also recommended the creation of coastal routes in National Parks and of six inland, long-distance paths, including The Ridgeway, conceived as the route from Cambridge to Seaton in Devon.  However, it was not until July 1972 that a much-shortened version of The Ridgeway was approved, and the new National Trail was officially opened on 29th September 1973.  The remainder of the ancient Ridgeway remains as the “unofficial” Icknield Way and Wessex Ridgeway paths. 

Foundation of the Association:-  Despite its National Trail status, The Ridgeway remained subject to the growing impact of the motor vehicle.  One man, Denis Grant King, teacher, artist, and amateur Wiltshire archaeologist, led the struggle to conserve the Ridgeway and other green-ways, and from 1972 convened the Ridgeway Conservation Conference (RCC) of organisations and individuals.  Supporters included the Ramblers Association, the Chilterns Society, the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), Friends of the Earth, and the Youth Hostels Association. For ten years the RCC co-ordinated efforts to protect the Ridgeway and its associated paths and environment, but it lacked a grass-roots organisation. At a meeting in February, 1982, the Conference agreed to form a successor organisation, and formed a Steering Committee to this end.  The Friends of the Ridgeway was formally constituted on 6th March, 1983, with Patrick Cormack MP as President, and under the Chairmanship of Maurice Mendoza CVO, a former Director of Ancient Monuments.  Nigel Forward, a retired senior Civil Servant, was Secretary. 

Traffic Control:- The Association’s efforts over the 25 years of its existence, and of the RCC before it, acting in concert with the Ramblers Association, CPRE, and other organisations, have been directed both towards lobbying for more effective legislative protection, and, in the interim, for effective regulatory action by the Highway Authorities concerned, by use of Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) under the Road Traffic Regulation Acts (RTRA).  A first attempt by Oxfordshire CC in 1976, at the instance of the Countryside Commission  (established under the 1968 Countryside Act as the successor to the National Parks Commission), to introduce this under the 1967 RTRA on a short, 3-mile section near Sparsholt was rejected after a Public Enquiry.  In 1978 proposals for a more extensive TRO were deferred in favour of a Code of Voluntary Restraint adopted by the motoring organisations, which proved predictably ineffective.  The TRO proposals were renewed in 1986, under the 1984 RTRA, as a ban on motor traffic on Sundays and Bank Holidays, over the whole of the 42-mile Great Ridgeway section, and this was also rejected at Public Enquiry in November, 1992.    TROs were finally achieved, as a result of our campaigning, over more than 30 miles of the Great Ridgeway, on a seasonal basis, restricting motor vehicle use to five summer months only. 

GLEAM and GLPG:-  “ It was the appalling state of The Ridgeway in Berkshire, and its feeder tracks, that gave the initial impetus to the formation of GLEAM – the Green Lanes Environmental Action Movement” [www.gleam-uk.org] .  GLEAM was founded in April 1995 by David Gardiner and Elizabeth Still, as a national organisation,  in response to the damage being done by the off-roaders to The Ridgeway, but in recognition that similar problems existed in almost every county.   The Association was amongst the first of GLEAM’s members, and GLEAM’s national spread and the expertise and sterling efforts of its founders and its Honorary Adviser, Graham Plumbe, proved invaluable in mobilising opinion against the rape of our green lanes by the off-roaders.   GLEAM’s Chairman, David Gardiner, instigated the formation of the Green Lanes Protection Group (GLPG), led by the Association’s Chairman, Ian Ritchie.   GLPG is an association of organisations opposing off-road use of green lanes, and it has proved an effective lobbyist for legislative change.

Legislation:- Most of the controversy in which the Association became involved arose from the unsatisfactory definition by the !949 Act of “Roads used as a Public Path”, or RUPPs, since this did not determine vehicular rights.  The 1968 Countryside Act introduced the further class of “Byway Open to All Traffic” or BOATs, but failed to define this class, causing confusion.  The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 introduced a revised test based on proof of existing vehicular rights; but this also failed to address the problem satisfactorily, since it left complainants with the almost impossible task of proving no past vehicular use. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000, abandoned the unsatisfactory  RUPP definition, in favour of the new form of “Restricted Byway”, but allowed drivers using such routes to claim the defence of prior vehicular rights, which could be established by pre-motor traffic; in other words, previous use by a horse and cart could justify use by an articulated motor truck!  This remaining problem was addressed, hopefully finally, by ss 66-72 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, 2006, which effectively extinguishes future claims to BOAT status.  Once existing claims for this designation have been settled, the main legal issues should have been laid to rest.   

The Present Position:- Working with other like-minded organisations such as The Ramblers and CPRE, we have at last been able to influence the passage by Parliament of effective legislation.  This has resulted in major sections of The Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and West Berkshire being reclassified as Restricted Byways and therefore banned to motor vehicles.

The net result is that, excluding the short sections where The Ridgeway follows paved road, there are now only about 3 miles of the trail that are open to motor vehicles all the year round.  A further section of 14 miles  (in Wiltshire) is still the subject of a Traffic Regulation Order and has motor vehicle rights for 5 months each summer. 

We will continue to campaign for a complete ban on all non-essential motor vehicles along the whole of The Ridgeway, but we are pleased with the progress we have made. 

We are now switching our focus to supporting the National Trails Office in their efforts to repair the damage that the motor vehicles have done and to encouraging more people to come out to enjoy in peace the delights of The Ridgeway.  

We are also exploring with interested agencies and organisations the potential for promotion of the original Ancient Ridgeway path as a challenging, coast-to-coast route, linking many of the major features of our pre-historic heritage. 

See also related articles republished from recent newsletters:
NERCA Update
Another opinion on Access