Horse-riders fight ‘excessive’ plans to block lanes over fly-tipping

The British Horse Society, which has more than 1,200 volunteers, is opposing Amber Valley Council’s plan to retain gates on six roads plagued by fly-tipping.

It says the plans have the effect of unfairly punishing horse-riders from using the public routes, when they are using the lanes for leisure, rather than fly-tipping.

The council’s public space protection orders have been in place for three years and now the authority wants to retain them for a further three years, saying that they have proved an effective deterrent.

This has seen gates to block the roads and fines for waste dumped on Station Road in Ironville, Church Street in Riddings and Cockshutt Lane and Norman Road in Somercotes, as well as Castle Lane in Codnor and Anchor Road in Langley Mill,

The fines range from £100 for an initial fixed penalty and notice and rise to £1,000 should the fine be avoided and proceed to court – if found guilty.

The BHS said: “While it is accepted the council proposes this gating order to reduce anti-social behaviour which has had a detrimental effect on some in the locality, it is considered the extent of the order, in particular the lack of exceptions allowing access by other legitimate users, is excessive.

“The valid and genuine use of footpaths, bridleways and restricted byways for leisure, exercise and travel should be taken into consideration. The needs of others in the locality are valid too and they should not be punished for the misdeeds of a few.

“Fly-tipping is disgraceful and unnecessary, and offenders should be pursued to the full extent of the law. Anti-social/use of motorised vehicles on routes or land where proscribed is deplored.

“Gating may be appropriate to defer offenders, but not to the detriment of legitimate users.”

When the council launched the consultation on the three-year extension, it provided details of issues faced on the routes in the past three years.

It logged 16 incidents over the past three years at the six sites, including a “motorised scooter/mobility scooter” dumped on Church Street in April 2023; window frames dumped on Norman Road in January 2020 and carpets fly-tipped on Norman Road in June 2021.

Anchor Road incidents include fly-tipped Tarmac in July 2020; two flatbed trucks worth of a dumped cannabis set-up in August 2022; a fridge freezer in September 2022; a “drugs fly-tip including three fridges in September 2022; cannabis waste in January 2023, and asbestos in March 2023.The council said fly-tipping has been “resolved or significantly reduced” by installing lockable gates on the affected areas, which previously had “a high frequency of fly-tipping or anti-social behaviour”.