Off-Road Motorised Vehicles in the Cambrian Mountains

Click here to report an incident of illegal off-roading

Latest news - February 2010

Members will know that there has been a threat of a significant increase in the length of routes available for the use of motorised vehicles in the Cambrian Mountains.

Matters came to a head in 2005 over the re-renewal of a "temporary" Traffic Regulation Order banning motor vehicles on the Monks' Trod between Pont ar Elan and Strata Florida. A consultants' report was commissioned, and suggested several options, none of which could reconcile people who enjoy peace with those who like off-roading.

Click here for information about the Monks' Trod.

Then, in a move which looked like an attempt to side-step the problem, it was decided that the time had come to tackle the broader issue of off-road motor vehicles throughout the Cambrian Mountains. A second consultants' report was commissioned, and this proposed (August 2008) a "Pilot Project", whose most controversial suggestion was that there was potential for greatly enlarging the network of routes available to off-roaders. The Cambrian Mountains Society, together with many other organisations, objected strongly to these proposals,

Click here for information about the proposal, and for the Society's response.

Now, following our representations, the whole proposal has been refocused.

It has been agreed that the new focus of work should be:

to resolve the legal status on routes where there is currently uncertainty, and
to agree on selected routes where best practice management can be developed and demonstrated.

Motorised vehicle users have begun to work through a new organisation, Treadlightly, to educate their members and to improve the quality of those routes that are already in existence.

A Strategic Environmental Assessment of the whole project is also to be undertaken.

This new focus is a direct result of the firm response that we made to the initial document.

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