PMBA

Mountain Biking Access E-Petition.

P.M.B.A. is pretty keen on improving access for mountain bikers whenever possible especially given the piecemeal and often contradictory access rights we currently have. We're working to try and get a voice on the various access forums across the region but there are other people out there trying different approaches.

Rob Sutherland has created an e-petition on the government website that we all ought to be supporting. The more exposure there is for mountain bikers access rights the more chance we have of eventually improving them. P.M.B.A.'s approach is very much to work within the current confines of the law as it stands, we need to be seen as the 'good guys' when dealing with the various official bodies otherwise we have zero credibility with them. To that end we can't condone riding on the cheeky trails but it sure doesn't mean we'd not love to legitimise using the footpath network. Whatever your views on the rights on wrongs of riding the footpath network it's in all our interests to engage with officaldom whenever we get the chance so we'd be grateful if as many of you as possible would sign the petition. 100,000 names could mean a debate in the house of commons, unfortunately we're currently a way off that.

The petition is:

'Designating mountain bikes in the same category as horses is wrong and provides a barrier to the lawful pursuit of a healthy past-time. In many parts of the country there simply is not a legal network of trails open to cyclists, or too little to be meaningful. Cyclists should be allowed to use the footpath network to pursue the sport of mountain biking, this would help to promote activity amongst young people, especially as the roads become increasingly congested. Shared use of all paths and trails has been successful in Scotland and could be throughout the rest of the UK. It will spread the density of mountain bikers further reducing the potential for trail conflict and the (disputed) erosive impact of bikes on the trail surfaces. There are no costs involved (we don't need special gates or access) this is just a re designation exercise to make a bicycle an extension of a pedestrian on the footpath network (with the exception of roadside footways).'

In the time it's taken you to read this you could have signed the petition!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/3508