News - Feb 2019 - Kingsway
Kinsgway Bridleway
We recently asked our ROW officer, Julie Simpson at the Council to take a look at the horse stiles / tiger traps around Kinsgway as several had become more difficult to negociate. The gravel in and around the stiles has eroded making them a lot higher for the horses to get over.
However, Julie informed us that the Council were not responsible for maintenance of this route as it was not on the Definitive Map.
When Kingsway Business Park was being built, we were promised a bridleway and they delivered a great route consisting of existing sections of Lower Lanes and Moorbank Lane plus new sections. It is complete with the horse stiles, brildeway signs and even a Pegasus crossing which won't have been cheap to install (around £50K). However, the legal process required to modify the Definitive Map to secure this as a Right of Way was overlooked. As a result it leaves open the question as to who is responsible for maintaining it.
On Julie's advice, we contacted Rochdale Development Agency who in turn passed us on to the Highways Department at the Council. We then had a site visit with Highways who told us they had in fact already identified this problem and were going to make this route a highway. We explained that we have been riding the main parts of this route for some 20 years and the new complete route around 16 years and therefore we could apply for a Definitive Map Modification Order to claim this as a bridleway. Highways that the attention was for the route to be a bridleway and that would be the status he would be pursuing for the route. We also asked whether the cycleways which were also not on the Defintiive Map could also be opened up to horse riders increase the routes we can ride so watch this space!