Erosion on Chapel Gate

National park bosses have agreed to hold a public consultation on plans to ban motors from a green lane.

The Peak District National Park Authority will seek the public’s view later this month about proposals to exclude trail-bikes and 4×4 vehicles from Chapel Gate, which has been at the centre of a legal row over off-roading.

In November last year, a judge quashed an experimental temporary traffic order that had three months to run and which had been challenged by the Trail Riders’ Fellowship.

The 3km route runs between Edale and Chapel-en-le-Frith, skirting Rushup Edge.

A recent meeting of the authority’s audit, resources and performance committee decided to seek the public’s views on a proposed permanent traffic regulation order to restrict recreational motorised traffic on the Chapel Gate route.

Representatives of the Peak District Local Access Forum, Peak District Green Lanes Alliance, Peak District Vehicle Users Group and the Trail Riders’ Fellowship all spoke at the meeting.

Jim Dixon, chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority, said: “Chapel Gate is an important recreational route which runs through a special area of conservation, a special protection area and a site of special scientific interest.

“And, it’s our statutory responsibility to protect the national park from adverse impact on its natural beauty, which includes the landscape, wildlife and heritage, and on the amenity value for people to enjoy it.

“We welcome people’s views on the use of Chapel Gate by recreational motorised traffic so that authority members can make an informed decision in the future.”

The audit, resources and performance committee unanimously approved action plans for 36 priority routes, 24 of which are in Derbyshire, considered to be potentially unsustainable and in need of improved management by the highway authorities.

The national park authority has the power to make traffic regulation orders to conserve the landscape’s natural beauty and wildlife.

The start of the six-week consultation will be announced on the authority’s website in the near future.