green laning / boats in midlands.

[prawny1]

After looking at the posts regarding the rambler association I had a look round the net for definitions of boats and what was needed to keep them registered as such,

It sems for years the "ram. ass." or "ramblers association" has been getting acess cut to powered vehicles pretty much without any resistance, mainly because many people don't know how to determine the status of many roads and byways,

It seems that the only truly accepted proof that a byway has vehicle access is to get it registered on the "definitive map" of your area usually requiring proof of previous vehicular traffic rights that can be found on older o.s maps, public records and such.

The ramblers on the other hand no longer have to do that as all what used to be rupps as defined since the 40's got automatic footpath/ restricted byway status in 2000.

So this led me to search for the local definitive map for my local area of birmingham, it seems as for as I can tell that untill late 2008 one simply didn't exist,

Now to me this is setting alarm bells ringing in that the ramblers whom are far more experienced at getting byways reclassified will have jumped into high gear at the chance to claim all greenlanes, white roads and other unclassified byways and get them reclassified as footpaths or restricted byways for them selves and have the maps updated in their favour.

From what I can gather the white roads on the map are what we need to focus on, as they are the ones traditionally refered to as greenlanes and are for the most part unclassified, ancient or adopted as local access routes, All of which could be "claimed" by ramblers and taken away from the rest of the public (with powered vehicles or not)

I don't know myself how to go about claiming these lanes, but surely someone on here has an incling, It would be a shame if the tracks round here get taken away from us purely because the ram. ass. got the paper work in first.

So if you want your favourit lanes to stay open check its status on your local definitive map, and if you can find any proof submit it to your local authority or on here for someone in the know to help keep them open.

[Ste]

[prawny1]

I realise that simply being on a map does not automaticly denote vehicular access rights,

That is why I said you would need to check local records and such to find evidence of previous/traditional use as a vehicular byway,

Many older byways or unsurfaced roads/greenlanes etc, have not been used since before the invention of powered vehicles, but that doesn't mean poeple should never be allowed to use them again, or let the ramblers claim them when they have no more right to than you or me.

It makes me laugh how walkers seem to claim any path for themselves, Round by me there is a trail that I know for a fact was cut out by a local (illegal) group of off road riders because when I was a kid I helped clear it with a bow saw, That was over a decade ago when I was about 13.

Now that the track is well astablished dog walkers have adopted it and screw at the locals that still ride it saying that it is a footpath, even though they have no more right to be their than the bikers.