Epping Forest Epics

sze187 · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Leytonstone

For those interested, some members of the MBR over 35 went to the forum last night and this was their report.

Last evening saw the first meeting of the Epping Forest Cycle Forum
run by the City of London Forest Conservators. It was a very lively
meeting with about sixty people present. Most of these were pro-
cycling with only two people speaking against cycling in the forest.
Representatives of EFRA (Epping Forest (horse) Riders Association),
Friends of the Forest and several forest rangers attended. The meeting
was very well chaired and everyone had an opportunity to speak. It
seems that the Forest Conservators have a positive attitude towards
cycling in the forest, have no intention of attempting to stop cycling
in the forest and have a strong desire to have a dialogue with the
various cycling groups who use the forest.
Of the six thousand acres that make up the forest only 0.5% is
currently closed to cycling. Areas are only closed when it becomes
necessary for conservation purposes to allow regeneration or for
safety reasons.
A sum of £30,000 was spent last year on improvement to the bridle ways
and a £60,000 spend is proposed for this year. Emphasis was put on the
forrest as a natural environment and not a park. There is no intention
to build man-made trails as this would detract from the natural
environment.
The representative from EFRA reported that his members feel that they
have a positive experience with most cyclists that they meet in the
forrest. The EFRA web site has a code of conduct for riders and
cyclists that may be of interest.
Rangers report that the area at the top of Pole Hill is closed to
cycling at present, for safety reasons, as there has been an outbreak
of "trail-building" involving three foot deep pits being dug and tree
roots being sawn through. It was acknowledged that this sort of
behaviour is due to a very small minority of people and that the vast
majority of cyclists respect the forrest.
There will be a further Cycle Forum meeting in due course and it was
suggested that the various cycling groups might elect representatives
to attend the main Forrest Forum meetings in future.

hamster · Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 73 Location: waltham abbey

The Cru managed to get 11 representatives at the meeting. The general consensus was that it didn't actually inform us of anything we didn't know already. As with all these situations it is a minority of people who ruin it (shout loudest) for the rest, be it the 'youths' digging holes up at Pole Hill or the small numbers of walkers deliberately obstructing trails etc.

In the Cru we have long championed stopping riding on very worn/muddy sections and it might be beneficial if some form of ST map were published indicating good riding areas, depending on the state of the ground etc. We all have to hope that other large cycling groups are as considerate and will avoid areas known to be in a bad condition to allow them to recover.
_________________
that humerus still ain't humorous

SENOR J · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:45 pm Post subject:

just noticed this post.
very interesting ta.
was interested in the natural habitat ,not park, point.
i agree natural trails are better than the man made ones, however i feel that some areas in the forest could do with a little human assistance.

jlovejoy · Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 18

just taking a peruse of the forum (living vicariously from across the pond) and saw this.

I just have to say that it is great to hear there is so much support to keep cycling in the forrest and minimal resistance. We have major trail issues over here (Boulder, Colorado) - as far as I can tell, mtn biking got big, hikers/walkers got irritated and, with their greater organization, got almost all of the city parks trails closed to mtn bikers early on. This was a long time ago and the mtn biking scene was not organized enough to mount a challenge. I can tell you, once they close trails, it's really hard to get them opened again...

Anyway - keep showing up to those meetings and be proactive (and avoid the fate many original mtn biking hotbeds in the US)!!

ps - in spite of the dim sounding situation described above, we still do have some fantastic mtn biking, especially in the high country and on the western slope Very Happy