This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament
Closed petition No closures for legal routes for motorcycle trail riding without new provision.
Closed on
Make a legal requirement that any current legal unsurfaced road open to motor vehicles (including motorcycles) cannot be closed by any local authority or local council highways authority without new provision of a similar route or facility being provided.
Many local authorities are closing legal routes to responsible and legal motorcyclists or vehicle users without apparent regard for the need for the provision of this kind of recreational pursuit. The amount of these lanes are being reduced to a critically low number which can result in illegal use of unsuitable lanes without vehicle status. We say it is not reasonable to simply close the facilities and walk away from the responsibility to provide legitimate places to ride or drive.
10,792 signatures
Petition progress
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Petition closed
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Government responded to this petition
The Government believes that local highway authorities, which are responsible for the management of motor vehicles and unsealed routes, are best placed to develop local solutions for their area.
Read the response in full
Each local highway authority, or national park authority where appropriate, has considerable local knowledge about users to develop the most effective local solutions for their area. The Government believes that locally brokered solutions are therefore the most effective solutions in the long-term.
Local authorities have legislative powers, including powers to make a traffic regulation order to close a route to motorised vehicles if any problems occur, but they must fully consider and respond to any representations they receive about a proposed order.
We have helped establish a forum to bring together a number of motor vehicle stakeholders to discuss ways of working together in the future. The forum met on 17 November 2016, chaired by Natural England. It looks to identify and develop solutions for a range of issues about motorised vehicles.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Government will respond to this petition
This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.
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Petition published
This petition can now be signed.
If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.
If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
This petition will stay open until 3 May 2017.