Defending Cwmparc's Mountain Trail: BMC backs community fight for public access

This sounds like a job for pitchforks and flaming torches. To the barricade!

That's vile. Do the adjacent land owners actually own the lane too, or are they just counting on inaction from the council to enforce the closure? Article doesn't say. Either way, a concerted effort at mass trespass or gate/CCTV vandalism feels appropriate. 

When someone tried that around here, the council turned it into a restricted byway within a month.

That's vile. Do the adjacent land owners actually own the lane too, or are they just counting on inaction from the council to enforce the closure? Article doesn't say. Either way, a concerted effort at mass trespass or gate/CCTV vandalism feels appropriate. 

Interesting view - do you know the area or the access constraints, or indeed what is being accessed?

Rights of way in Wales are interesting, and not comparable to RoWs in, for example, the SE of England. There is lots of ex-industrial land that has gone to scrub and been used by walkers, motorbikes, MTBs, etc with absolutely no thought about who actually owns it. Just because the locals have been using it for decades means very little when it's time for development. Many of the places that were used in that way locally while I grew up are now under shopping developments, housing estates, link roads - the only difference with this Cwmparc case seems to be that it's a private house? If a supermarket had bought the land and redeveloped it then there would be no debate.

Locally, we have a hill that s heavily used by us MTBers - has had plenty of races on it - and all the other outdoor users that you can imagine, including chavvy kids setting fire to it every summer. There wasn't a single RoW on it until a group pressured the council into putting a single footpath on it a few years ago. This is despite it having a wide, vehicular access track, and about a dozen other access points. 

Strava has a segment there listed as 800 athletes having completed 10,000 total efforts all-time, and that's only since Strava started and doesn't include all the people not using Strava.

I think the new owners are going to regret this action, apart from just alienating the whole of the village as that route has so many users. It is the access to the forest - which has the customary forest naming sign and the no quad biking, motorcycling signs.

Now they are the only people that can access that forest entrance.

I can't see this going down well with all the illegal mx-bikers in the area, or even the illegal offroaders (you can see their unregistered and snorkle bearing Suzuki Jimny's just in some of the nearby streets). 

I wouldn't want to leave my house unattended whilst I went on holiday.

Strava has a segment there listed as 800 athletes having completed 10,000 total efforts all-time, and that's only since Strava started and doesn't include all the people not using Strava.

What's that then, about 50 Strava users per year, on average? Less than one a week?

It is the access to the forest - which has the customary forest naming sign and the no quad biking, motorcycling signs.

Is it really the only access to the forest? It's a dead end valley, so do many people travel all the way up to that access point, other than the dog walkers who live in the houses below it? And if the access point is owned privately but is genuinely needed, why have NRW not arranged an alternative access? (Is the mountain NRW owned?)

I'm not defending people who block RoWs, but there is no RoW in the first place. Just because I walk across some waste land every time I walk home from work, it doesn't mean that I automatically get a say in how that land is used when someone builds on it.

I can't see this going down well with all the illegal mx-bikers in the area, or even the illegal offroaders (you can see their unregistered and snorkle bearing Suzuki Jimny's just in some of the nearby streets). 

Is this the real issue? No other access point for these dicks?

I'm not defending people who block RoWs, but there is no RoW in the first place. Just because I walk across some waste land every time I walk home from work, it doesn't mean that I automatically get a say in how that land is used when someone builds on it.

Not true. There are laws in place to establish official rights of way based on proven use over a long time.

https://www.footanstey.com/our-insights/articles-news/dont-get-in-my-way-a-guide-to-rights-of-way-obtained-through-long-use/

I'm not defending people who block RoWs, but there is no RoW in the first place. Just because I walk across some waste land every time I walk home from work, it doesn't mean that I automatically get a say in how that land is used when someone builds on it.

Not true. There are laws in place to establish official rights of way based on proven use over a long time.

Try being a little less literal, eh?

Is it really the only access to the forest? It's a dead end valley, so do many people travel all the way up to that access point, other than the dog walkers who live in the houses below it? And if the access point is owned privately but is genuinely needed, why have NRW not arranged an alternative access? (Is the mountain NRW owned?)

I think this has caught them out a bit, the forest road was only extended down to meet the lane. There are some other footpaths around but they aren't surfaced and are steep and often rutted and boggy from where the mx bikers have chewed them up.

Here you can see the forest road coming out of Cwmparc, to the left of where it says Parc Primary School.

@51.6587992,-3.5370873,2501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x486e40fe31b0abf7:0x56c5ce806a4fedf1!2m2!1d-3.5625441!2d51.6775509!1m0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Blaencwm,+Treorchy// @51.6587992,-3.5370873,2501m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x486e40fe31b0abf7:0x56c5ce806a4fedf1!2m2!1d-3.5625441!2d51.6775509!1m0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

It winds up the mountain, through the forest and there are smaller tracks down to Treherbert, but nothing major and gravel surfaced and accessible like that gravel road. 

There some great paths up the side of the Cwm and to the Blwch mountain but they are steep and a pretty good level of fitness is required, and guts to go past all the horned cattle if they are roaming there. Not really rideable by bike.

There was a video on the SportRCT website describing that walk up through the forest, but they have now taken it down. The local school regularly take kids up there in the summer, and they have a local three peaks challange of which one of the peaks is from that walk, so they won't be able to do that again unless something happens.

Here's that link, using the link control stopped the URL being complete and pasting it raw does the same, so I've put it in quotes:

"https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Blaencwm,+Treorchy//@51.6570817,-3.5194053,2310m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x486e40fe31b0abf7:0x56c5ce806a4fedf1!2m2!1d-3.5625441!2d51.6775509!1m0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D"

The gates are down !!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qgjn9xv3eo

The homeowner was issued a notice from the council to remove the gates because that road was deemed to be a highway based on historic usage.

However they started building a path to the right of it instead, chopping down some pretty tall trees along the way and hard surfacing it and then opening it just after the council notice expired.

There was no sign though saying permissive access though so you'd probably be trepassing to use it and it also wasn't wide enough for horses to be safe as it was fenced with temporary metal fences.

After a few days the council issued them another notice to get the gates down or they would be doing it.

So now the gates are down but the area looks much worse than it did before. Must have cost the homeowners a prety penny and soured relations with the neighbouring community, although I don't think they have mixed much at all since moving there. And they were only from Porth which is a few miles down the road so should have been pretty aware of the situation and access.

Posted by: IdleJon

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I'm not defending people who block RoWs, but there is no RoW in the first place. Just because I walk across some waste land every time I walk home from work, it doesn't mean that I automatically get a say in how that land is used when someone builds on it.

Not true. There are laws in place to establish official rights of way based on proven use over a long time.

Try being a little less literal, eh?

Why, because it doesn’t fit your agenda? 🤔

The story has made the Daily Mail which has more comprehensive information in it than the BBC article, including pictures of the remains of the trees he cut down, the path he was trying to build at the side, and also a new road that was appearing on land that perversely belonged to one of the guys that started the campaign against the gate and also printed all the posters and banners that got displayed around the town.

Whether or not he sold the home owner that land to build a road on is unknown but he had a vegetable garden area on it before and originally said he wouldn't sell it, but then the road appears on it and it wouldn't make sense for anyone else but the homeowner to build it. The facebook group started to campaign against the gate, of which the original owner is an admin, came down hard on anyone discussing the road (I got a ban because of it) so it all seems a bit suspicious to me.

https://www.****/news/article-14801247/A-gate-far-Couple-lost-bitter-war-against-neighbours-Bond-villain-mansion-finally-remove-illegal-barrier-failing-attempt-create-new-access-route.html