foolonastrom
Guest
I went along to a public meeting about this project last night...(This is a copy of my post to the TRF forum, so may not all make complete sence out of context)
The meeting seemed pretty good, they explained the project, and how the next stage will work, which is basically a survey of some possible routes that may be suitable, some of these are existing ROW's, some not. Each route will be assesed on 4 criteria, this will then be reported on in Sept, and recomendations made as to a way forward, so this is going to be a longish process and it's important that we stay involved to ensure that our point of view is maintained.
More details of the project can be found here http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8894 the links to documents on the right of the page are useful.
After the presentations there was a Q+A session, and predictably there were a few rants by Ramblers and Anti's. The anti's probably had a slight majority in the room, however some good points were made by our side, and I'm sure a couple of the rants by the Rambliars would have got the backs up of the comitee and the consultants.
The next stage of the process is a survey of routes, representatives of the various interest groups are invited to accompany the surveyor, and it is probably worth us (as in the TRF in Wales as a whole) trying to ensure that we have someone out with the surveyor so that we can try to ensure that what he puts in his report represents two wheeled access. I'm sure that our experienced trail riders can assist him in showing that some routes would be sustainable for motorcycle traffic, when his first impression might be otherwise.
I spoke very very briefly to Marriane about this last night, so I'll email her again and see if she is in agreement and if we can sort out volunteers.
All in all the meeting was fairly positive, however it could still end up being a threat to our access of Mid Wales (and if this project is a success It'll be rolled out across Wales I expect). We need to stay involved and politely fight our corner.
The meeting seemed pretty good, they explained the project, and how the next stage will work, which is basically a survey of some possible routes that may be suitable, some of these are existing ROW's, some not. Each route will be assesed on 4 criteria, this will then be reported on in Sept, and recomendations made as to a way forward, so this is going to be a longish process and it's important that we stay involved to ensure that our point of view is maintained.
More details of the project can be found here http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=8894 the links to documents on the right of the page are useful.
After the presentations there was a Q+A session, and predictably there were a few rants by Ramblers and Anti's. The anti's probably had a slight majority in the room, however some good points were made by our side, and I'm sure a couple of the rants by the Rambliars would have got the backs up of the comitee and the consultants.
The next stage of the process is a survey of routes, representatives of the various interest groups are invited to accompany the surveyor, and it is probably worth us (as in the TRF in Wales as a whole) trying to ensure that we have someone out with the surveyor so that we can try to ensure that what he puts in his report represents two wheeled access. I'm sure that our experienced trail riders can assist him in showing that some routes would be sustainable for motorcycle traffic, when his first impression might be otherwise.
I spoke very very briefly to Marriane about this last night, so I'll email her again and see if she is in agreement and if we can sort out volunteers.
All in all the meeting was fairly positive, however it could still end up being a threat to our access of Mid Wales (and if this project is a success It'll be rolled out across Wales I expect). We need to stay involved and politely fight our corner.
