Home - British Horse Society Home British Horse Society East of England
 HQ Website | HQ Book Shop | HQ Access Page | HQ Telephone: 01926 707700
 East of England | Projects | No. 10 Petition - Equestrian Access 2007/8
 
The Prime Minister's website contains a facility for hosting a petition on matters of public importance, with the promise that for well supported petitions, a Government response will be published. It depends on enough voters signing the petition.

The petition

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to include access for equestrians in all new access legislation, including the current proposals for access to the English Coast."

  • If you agree with the aims of this petition, why not sign it now. The process is entirely online and only takes a few minutes.

The Government is presently considering giving a right of access for walkers round the coast of England. In Wales and Scotland, the proposals cover riders too, but not yet in England.

We worry that the new walkers' right would close beaches that are currently used by riders. We would also like to see linking bridleways to create a coastal route where the beaches are unsuitable.

Phil Wadey, BHS regional access officer for the East of England said, "Beach riding is great fun and takes place on many beaches without any problems at all. I really enjoyed my last trip to Holkham in Norfolk for a morning's riding. The Government proposals put such facilities at risk of closure to riders. We need everyone who shares a desire to keep beaches available to sign the petition soonest."

Results
19,844(= Highway Code petition)
4,263Total signatures at close23 Mar 08
4,00024 Feb 08
3,5008 Jan 08
3,00019 Nov 07
2,50018 Oct 07
2,0001 Oct 07
1,0006 Sep 07
50028 Aug 07
200(to get response from a Minister)25 Aug 07
Petition launched24 Aug 07
On 4 Nov 07, this was the 85th most signed petition on the PM's wesbite (down from 83rd on 28 Oct 07)

Supporters
The BHS thanks the following organisations in the East of England for actively supporting the petition
Patchetts Green Bridleways Trust (Hertfordshire)
Shelford and District Bridleways Group (Cambridgeshire)
North Essex and Saffron Walden Bridleways Group
Essex Bridleways Association

Response from the Office of the Prime Minister (28 Apr 08)

We consulted in June 2007 on a number of options for improving access to the English coast following advice from Natural England. While we asked Natural England to focus on improving access on foot, we were also interested in improving rights for other users such as horse riders and cyclists, and indeed Natural England recommended that as part of the process of aligning a coastal access corridor, opportunities should be considered where rights for other users might be provided at the local level and using existing mechanisms.

We recognise there was support from respondents to the consultation with a specific horse interest for the need for rights for horse riders, where it was practical and where evidence of local demand existed. This was however balanced by those respondents who did not support the need for such rights and who considered that this should be looked at as a separate issue and not reviewed within the context of the proposed new right for coastal access.

We have now issued the draft Marine Bill which includes provisions for improving access on foot to the English coast. The draft Bill does not include provisions for new rights for horse riding but the legislation will not reduce the current level of access to the public rights of way network enjoyed by riders.

HTML suplied by Patchetts Green Bridleways Trust. Petition data supplied by http://petitions.pm.gov.uk.