Off-Road Motorised Vehicles in the Cambrian Mountains

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Latest news - April 2008

Background

This news item replaces an earlier one called The Monks' Trod in Peril. The original threat to the Monks' Trod still exists - and is indeed increased - see below. But the threat now extends to many other routes across the whole of the Cambrian Mountains.

The Cambrian Mountains Pilot Project for Motorised Vehicles

The new threat to the Monks' Trod - and to the Cambrian Mountains as whole - come from this Assembly-inspired investigation into the suitability of routes in the Cambrian Mountains for use by four-by-fours and trail bikes.

This project is headed by "the Partnership", a small body which consists essentially of representatives of the Countyside Council for Wales plus the three County Councils (Powys, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire). The Partnership may take advice from the Stakeholders who include representatives of the motoring lobby and farmers plus the Ramblers' Association, the British Horse Society and the Cambrian Mountains Society. From time to time, the Partnership also calls a meeting of the Forum, which is open to all; the main function here is dissemination of information.

One of the documents circulated to the Forum makes clear the objective of the Pilot Project:

"An opportunity has arisen for a strategic approach to be adopted [to the use of recreational vehicles in the Cambrian Mountains] through funding from the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) … the primary objective is to identify a network of sustainable vehicular routes that could be promoted" (our bold type).

In the initial Forum meetings the motorised vehicle group identified some 600 km of route they would like to use within the Cambrian Mountains, and in subsequent meetings they have made it clear that this is an under-statement of their real demands. Much of this is on Rights of Way currently designated as footpaths or bridleways. We know that the Monks' Trod is included on their wish list as well as many other routes popular with walkers and horse-riders.

The Partnership are employing consultants to investigate the suitability of the 600 km and the consultants have proposed the use of four criteria - natural heritage, archaeological/ built heritage, tranquillity and carrying capacity.

Since all parts of the Cambrian Mountains are tranquil, it might be expected that there can be no possible threat. But when a major study of this kind is being undertaken with official support and with the clear objective of identifying vehicular routes, it is obvious that the Partnership are under pressure to meet that objective.

CMS believe that it is the tranquillity of the Cambrian Mountains that constitutes the area's unique feature. We shall do everything we can to defend that tranquillity (as well of course as the biodiversity and the features of historic and archaeological interest). We urge members individually to support us.

The Monks' Trod

Whilst this widened threat is being researched, we have been told that the original Monks' Trod proposals are on temporary hold pending the outcome of the Pilot Project. For those who may be unaware of the earlier threat to the Monks' Trod, the following notes provide some background.

The Monks' Trod links the Cistercian abbeys at Strata Florida in Ceredigion and Cwm Hir in Radnorshire, and is thought to have been the route used by monks travelling between the two abbeys. Artefacts along the route, such as Bronze Age cairns, have prompted speculation that the route may be much older than mediaeval, though there is no hard evidence to support this. But whether 1000 or 5000 years old, the Trod is certainly one of the most important historic features of the Cambrian Mountains, much of the route having survived - because of its remoteness - with little disturbance until recent times.

The section between Pont ar Elan - at the top end of the Craig Goch reservoir - and Strata Florida passes over a wonderful stretch of remote, little-visited moorland, designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area, and a Special Area of Conservation. It is this 6-mile section which is under threat, and which is referred to in the rest of this page.

Today the Trod is classified as a Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT) on the Radnorshire (Powys) side of the county boundary, and as an unclassified road on the Ceredigion side. In 1990, as a result of widespread alarm at damage to the route caused by the recreational use of motor vehicles, a permanent Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) was placed on the Monks' Trod, banning four-wheeled vehicles only. In 2002, after 12 years of further abuse, another, temporary, TRO was imposed, banning all motor traffic.

Since that date, the off-road lobby has been working to ensure that the Order is not renewed, and as a result of their lobbying, Powys and Ceredigion County Councils set up a Partnership "to examine the issues and possible options for the long term management" of the Trod, "examining possible ways forward in managing and utilising the Monks' Trod for recreational purposes". For a considerable time, the work of the Partnership took place in private, with representation confined to landowners (Elan Valley Trust), graziers, Rhayader Chamber of Trade, the Countryside Council for Wales, and off-roader organisations.

The partnership eventually commissioned a report and this identified four options:

1. Keep things as they are (traffic-free, peaceful, and with the possibility that the scars left by motor vehicle use may eventually heal);

Options 2-4 all make allowance in various ways for use by motor vehicles.

2. Convert the existing route into a road ("improve the standard of the surface to accommodate all users");

3. Move part of the route (between Esgair Cywion grid ref SN830685 and the junction at SN808676) onto a line better able to sustain motor vehicle use (i.e. down Esgair Cywion, passing east of Claerwen farm to join the Claerwen to Ffair Rhos track. The report does not make clear what work is contemplated for the eastern end of the route under this option.

4. As 3, but with a public footpath retained on the original route.

The consultation document observed that "Powys County Council have decided that the Monks' Trod will not be re-opened to 4 wheeled vehicles, which has been endorsed by the partnership". (Note though the Pilot Project outlined above throws even this into doubt).

Though acknowledging the physical damage to the route itself which could result from use by motor vehicles, the document failed explicitly to address many other crucial problems with Options 2, 3 and 4, namely that legitimising motor vehicles on the Monks' Trod would spoil its enjoyment by quiet users, would destroy the peace of one of the few remaining places in southern Britain where it is possible to escape from traffic noise, and would provide a legal route onto designated, fragile grassland for motor vehicle users intent on riding over the open hills, far from the Trod itself.

In autumn 2005, the two County Councils began a half-hearted "wider consultation", the real aim of which seemed to be to keep the consultation as quiet as possible. For example, Ceredigion Local Access Forum - the County Council's statutory advisor on access issues - was only informed of the consultation a month after the original closing date for representations (14th November 2005), and given only one week to comment.

After another year of indecision over the four options on the table, Ceredigion and Powys County Councils decided to consider a fifth option, and the original consultant was asked to carry out a further study including an assessment of the work and maintenance necessary to enable the route to be opened for a period of one month during the summer for motor cycle use.

It doesn't take a genius to predict that the off-road motor-cycling fraternity would make maximum use of that month; that if the month happened to be wet, the erosion would soon be as bad as it ever was. In any case; a partial ban would be hard to enforce. And of course summer is also the time when disturbance will be most widely experienced by quiet users. Read Jim Perrin for a flavour of what is under threat.

Clearly this new option was the favoured one - why else commission the assessment?

The Cambrian Mountains Society believes that the Monks' Trod should be accorded the status and protection due to a linear ancient monument, similar in importance to the Ridgeway in England. At the time of the consultation we wrote to the partnership vigorously supporting Option 1. We shall continue to press for a permanent closure to all motor vehicles, and for a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be carried out before a decision is made on any partial reopening.

Click here for an excellent article giving much more of the background and historical detail