TRF Forums

Norfolk County Council have come up with a novel solution to a problem that threatened to deprive the public of the use of a fairly long byway in the south of the county.

The byway which runs through the parishes of Brettenham and Bridgeham close to a non vehicular (footpath) section of the historic Peddars Way is due to be closed indefinitely for environmental reasons.

The problem is protected ground nesting birds who have carelessly decided to take up residence in the middle of the road. The land surrounding the byway is an SSSI and a nature reserve with seasonally limited public access. Ironically from our point of view it was the use of the route by walkers that was considered to pose the greatest threat to the wildlife. Especially those walkers who like the company of dogs!

This could have simply lead to the route being closed to all users but to their credit, Norfolk County Council appear to have worked quite hard to broker a compromise solution.

The lane will close indefinitely under the TRO as proposed but in its place will be an alternative "permisive byway" diversion.

The original plan and the one that was favoured by the TRF was for a permanent diversion that would have stopped up the old road and provided an entirely new byway. Unfortunately of the seven routes considered, none met with the necessary agreement from landowner and users to proceed unopposed so the authority have gone with the permissive option along the route favoured by the landowner.

On the face of it this may not look like a very good deal for trail rider and I must confess to having being sceptical initially but having seen and ridden the alternative route I can assure members that it is very nice. Of course it is "only" permissive but the authority have taken the very unusual step of linking the continuation of the TRO with the continued public access to the permissive route.

This and the fact that the route chosen is favoured by the landowner appear to bode well for the future of our access here. We will of course continue to monitor the situation closely but for the time being at least trail riders in Norfolk have a new and interesting lane to ride which has the added benefit of providing a link around a section of Peddars Way that was previously out of bounds to bikes.

Although I have been involved in this process as Eastern Area RoW Advisor the bulk of the credit for securing vehicular access to the alternative route should go to John Trout, Norwich Group RoW Officer. Thanks John.

So there you have it, a TRO story that doesn't have an unhappy ending for a change!

See below for a taster of the new route,



Cheers

Richard

Thanks for posting the good news!

It brings to the attention of others how much hard work is done by TRF and the consequent rewards.

Very handy for those, like myself, that are learning about ROW too.

Cheers

Fantastic!

Hi Could you indicate the start and finish points of this new route ?

Much appreciated

Thanks

Thanks guys.

The start and finnish points of the permissive route are actually close to the start and finnish points of the original byway. At the momment the route is not signed (we're assured it will be) but the route is available and the old lane is fenced off across the entrance to the nature reserve.

The start is here,

http://www.bdcc.co.uk/XMarksTheSpot.htm?g=TL9303283792&t=TL9303283792

and runs east via this point,

http://www.bdcc.co.uk/XMarksTheSpot.htm?g=TL9396684406&t=TL9396684406

then north, parallel with the footpath section of Peddars Way shown on the map to this point where it rejoins the original,

http://www.bdcc.co.uk/XMarksTheSpot.htm?g=TL9356986197&t=TL9356986197

Please note that the OS map used by this site is obviously out of date. The original BOAT is not shown at all and the northern part is still shown as footpath. On the ground though the whole thing is a lot more obvious.

If you use the route and are travelling south please do be careful to avoid straying onto the footpath. It should be fairly obvious if you do because the Peddars Way Roman Road is slightly raised and turns into a single track through trees. The route you want runs along the boundary of the fields.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Richard

Lovely....that fills in a nice gap between the end of the kings forest routes at Euston and the start of the Thetford sections!

Thanks for all your work Richard

"Lovely....that fills in a nice gap between the end of the kings forest routes at Euston and the start of the Thetford sections!"

Yeah, my thoughts exactly

Cheers

Richard

Excellent work !!

That will come in very handy indeed, I will be checking that route out over the next few weeks.

If you are able to make the AGM perhaps you could show me on the OS map Richard.
Really appreciate the efforts of all involved

Good news,
I was in thetford sunday - wish I had known then.
Well done

Martin

Am i being stupid here but there doesnt seem to be any byways or anything marked on the OS maps around that area? Even the route which you said has been banned was not on the map?

I have always struggled to get from end of peddars way or thetford to the start of the kings forrest byways and have always gone down the b road past centre parks etc which i hated doing.

Excuse my stupidity but i am quite new to all this!