The Peak District Tales from the National Parks

The National Parks are Britain's most beautiful landscapes.

Rolling hills, wide lakes, panoramic views,

they are places to relax and inspire you.

I didn't know there was anywhere like this.

It's absolutely fantastic.

The Peak District is the oldest of our 15 National Parks.

In creating it after the Second World War, the Government

was giving to the nation a place that everyone could enjoy.

Today, the Peak District

is becoming a victim of its own success.

It has ten million visitors a year.

I've been a long time ago

but I don't remember it as it is now. It seems different.

Many of those come from the huge surrounding conurbations

of Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham.

-Have you ever had a nasty fall?

-No, not in 20 years.

Touch wood.

The park is also home to nearly 40,000 people.

These chocolate-box villages

are what have helped make the Peak District so famous.

All these people want different things from

this one precious piece of land.

And that creates conflict.

Hey, stop!

He nearly knocked me down!

All you want to do is represent the tourists.

I spent a year filming in the Peak District.

I want to find out who this National Park is really for.

We've all walked here to send a strong message.

Do you think it's moving? Does it move you to look at that view?

-Yes. It's the first time and it's beautiful.

-Peaceful, so peaceful.

It is.

-It's the tranquillity, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-Yes.

And also, I suppose, the sheer scale of it.

Mm-hm.

In July 2010, I arrive in Great Longstone, a typical

charming village in the heart of the Peak District National Park.

It's home to around 800 people.

It has two pubs and a shop which closes each day for lunch.

Joyce Poulter has lived in the village for nearly 40 years.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

Morning.

Hello. Lovely day, isn't it?

She's a retired primary school teacher.

I think I'll have some brownie cookies. We like those.

And I think John might like some custard creams.

Joyce is not your typical 80-year-old. She's an activist.

We're trying to get some people involved

-and try to do something about it.

-Right, yeah.

If anybody mentions it to you in the shop,

just send them in our direction.

John and I are speaking for it at the moment.

-We've not really established...

-Yes, Joyce.

Like most country villages, Great Longstone has a little lane

that winds its way down the side of the village.

It's called Cherpit Lane. It's just under two miles long.

The villagers love this lane.

For generations, they've walked their dogs

and ridden their horses up it.

But all that has changed.

Although it's not a tarmacked road,

Cherpit Lane is classified as a "Byway Open to All Traffic",

or BOAT for short.

It's being used throughout the year by off-roading enthusiasts,

driving 4x4s and riding trail bikes.

And the villagers don't like it.

-Beautiful day, isn't it?

-It's absolutely perfect.

Joyce's campaign is to get the off-roaders banned

from Cherpit Lane.

We're just so angry. The way that it has now been opened to all vehicles.

Trail bikes, 4x4s, anything that anybody wants to drive along here,

and it's just ridiculous. It's made it so difficult for the people

who have been using it, the walkers, the horse riders, the cyclists.

This part of the track now, where it is steep and stony, loose stones,

is now quite dangerous for cyclists.

We've heard several say they won't come again.

People are not able to walk up in peace and calm.

And it's upsetting.

Stop!

-Are you OK?

-Yes.

I shall get emotional.

Some of Joyce's neighbours in the village share her view

and see the off-roaders as unwelcome and a bit scary.

Like Sue and Chris Woods.

How do you feel when you see them?

-I'd prefer they weren't there.

-Me too.

But I can accept that, if they are where they're legally entitled to be

and behave responsibly, I've got to grin and bear it.

Although, as I say, I would prefer that the law was changed.

At the Gundrys', they believe they are a menace to society.

I wouldn't want to get involved in a real confrontation with them.

I wouldn't want to...

obstruct them.

An local phrase I have had used against me is,

keep your neb out!

In August, a month after I first met Joyce,

she's holding a recruitment drive

in her village pub for her new campaign.

Her husband, John, is chairing the meeting.

You're in shock because you've seen me in a suit, collar and tie.

It's nothing to do with the fact we've got television here.

It's just I thought we'd celebrate.

I never thought we'd have a meeting like this setting up of

the organisation with all sorts of allies all over the country.

Joyce is giving the campaign a name with a double meaning.

Rocking The BOAT, I think, is something that

can be remembered by most people.

The "BOAT" business, of course, refers to

-the bridleway open to all...

-Byway.

-Byway, sorry.

Byway Open to All Traffic, which, of course, refers to Cherpit Lane.

The campaign will include letter-writing, meetings

and monitoring of off-roaders on Cherpit Lane,

but Joyce has got a warning for her new recruits.

You may think that is a welcome signal but it wasn't,

and the person who took the photograph

got out of the way quickly because he realised that he was vulnerable.

Your safety is paramount.

We're not asking you to take photographs,

take number plates even, or anything else.

We are asking you, please, just to record what you see.

The villagers of Great Longstone are getting organised and mobilised

and they are determined to defend their lane.

Cherpit Lane is one of up to 300 green lanes in the Peak District.

Many are open to traffic

because they've been deemed roads since medieval times.

Getting the law changed on a lane can be costly and difficult

because the off-roaders know their legal rights.

One of those is Richard Entwistle,

who lives in Chesterfield, just outside the park.

He's part of the Peak District Vehicle Users Group,

or PDVUG, as it's known.

-What is it that does it for you?

-I think it's the skill of being able

to get the vehicle to cope with the terrain.

Obviously, the vehicle is very competent

but it still needs skill to drive it.

Whoa!

I'm more worried about your vehicle than you!

Richard knows some villagers in Great Longstone

are out to get him and his friends banned from Cherpit Lane,

so he wants to try and appease them

at a large public meeting in the village in two weeks' time.

Difficult, diplomatic situations are nothing new to Richard.

You have experience as a negotiator.

Well, I was an officer in the Territorial Army for 22 years.

That obviously stands me in good stead

for getting up in front of people and saying what has to be said.

There are the sheep down there.

Just wait here until the sheep have gone in there, please.

Yes, I just spotted them!

-What are you filming?

-It's a BBC documentary.

-About sheep?

-No.

-Thank God for that!

-Sadly. For you.

Could I ask you, what's your view

about the use of the green lanes for off-road vehicles?

They're a pain in the backside.

That evening, Richard Entwistle and some other off-roaders

are on Cherpit Lane

preparing for the meeting with the villagers of Great Longstone.

They have a legal right to drive down the lane

any time of day or night.

Any compromise they offer will be out of the kindness of their hearts.

The villagers complain

that the lane is too narrow for vehicles to use,

but Richard and his team have a simple solution to that problem.

They're going to offer to cut back the blackthorn bushes.

You can see the distance here

as to how much it restricts the lane.

The locals are concerned because of...vehicles

and pedestrians meeting down here - where do the pedestrians go?

People walking their dogs and suchlike.

If the road was its proper width,

there wouldn't be any more problem

than most of Derbyshire's narrow lanes.

So we've thought we'll investigate

whether we can do something about it.

The end of that is nine feet in. I mean, that's five feet.

Plus the length of my arm.

The most efficient way of doing it will be to have one of us

-firing off a chain saw.

-Shall we continue down a bit?

This is the main bit to concentrate on, where it's narrowest.

We'd better start with the Great Longstone village meeting...

After the lane, the off-roaders retire to a pub

to discuss the forthcoming meeting with the village.

The meeting is primarily to persuade us motorists

to put a voluntary restraint whereby 4x4s

don't use the lane at all and motorbikes only use it in winter.

That's quite a radical sort of change from

a legal byway open to all traffic.

They're wanting us to give way to them, aren't they?

It's been proved that it's a legal right of way for all users.

We're giving them more offers than they're giving us.

They're giving nothing, really.

They are united in the view that they don't need to offer

anything more than cutting back the blackthorn.

It's the end of September, the day of the meeting between

the Great Longstone villagers and the off-road motorists.

Joyce is at the hall early.

Another villager called Diana turns up

with what looks like a bag of scrap.

I've got another lovely mudguard at home that

I couldn't manage on my bike.

So, I'll just... I'll put...

Each time Diana takes a stroll on Cherpit Lane,

she picks up bits of broken vehicle.

She's brought them all along tonight

as damning evidence of the damage the off-roaders are causing.

-I'll bring down the mudguard when I come walking.

-Oh, good.

-OK?

-Thank you, Diana.

-OK.

-See you later.

-See you later. Yes.

What do you think of the evidence?

I have seen it before but I think it's probably a little bit more now.

She seems to find some every time she goes up there.

Slowly, the hall fills up. It seems the whole village has turned out.

HE RINGS BELL

Welcome, everybody. A fantastic turnout.

Joyce's husband, John, is chairing the meeting.

-We've just been hovering. Apologies to everybody.

-Yeah, it's all right.

Last to arrive is Richard Entwistle and his off-roading friends.

Anybody else coming in?

I want to emphasise that these guys have every legal right

to drive up and down Cherpit Lane.

Remember, they didn't have to come here tonight and make an offer.

I think you're going to make an offer...of some sort, anyway!

Nobody in the room knows what the motorists will offer.

I shall try and keep it in order with this bell.

You've got 20 minutes, if you wish.

-I don't think I'll be that long.

-OK.

-Yeah,

as motorists, we perceive that a substantial problem

on Cherpit Lane, in particular, is the blackthorn that's

crept over about three quarters of the lane for 50 yards or so.

We're looking into ways of getting rid of it

to make it safer for everybody, make it usable.

CROWD MUTTERS

Richard's offer has gone down like a lead balloon.

These good people, they expected

something a bit more than cutting back blackthorn, I'm sorry to say.

OK. Yes.

-It has food on it for birds.

-Blackthorn?

-Yes.

Sloes, sloe gin. If you cut it back,

some of the locals won't be able to go and get their sloes.

-It is growing in a public highway.

-It's not.

-Yes, it is.

-No!

Horses have ridden these tracks for centuries.

It wouldn't be appropriate for me to drive a motorbike

through your front room any more than it's appropriate

for you to drive 4x4s up a narrow lane like that.

For five minutes' thrill driving down Cherpit Lane,

you destroy our lives.

I don't know why you don't understand that because it actually

isn't something I'm sure you would

want to have happening outside your house.

Your activity destroys the pleasure

of the vast majority of people who are part of the National Park.

Cutting back a little bit of blackthorn,

it's not a pee in the ocean, mate.

Most of the people that I know despise you lot.

You're nothing, mate. You're nothing.

There's millions of walkers and we're dead against you lot.

APPLAUSE

The meeting ends with no agreement about Cherpit Lane.

If Rocking The BOAT wants to get off-roaders banned,

they will now have to use the law.

As residents of a National Park,

they hope the law will be on their side.

There are 15 National Parks in the UK,

but the Peak District is the oldest.

Some people have been visiting since it was designated in 1951.

Hello. We're just doing some filming for the BBC.

-You sure?

-Right!

-Sorry?

-You're sure you're from the BBC?

-Do I not look respectable?!

-Not really!

This is somewhere you've all been to, is it, before?

Yes, I've been a long time ago, but I don't remember it as it is now.

-It seems different.

-How has it changed?

Goodness knows, I don't know. It seems bigger. It's just different.

MUSIC: "The Woody Woodpecker Song"

The origins of the National Parks in Great Britain

can be traced back to before the Second World War.

In 1932, when Kinder Scout in the Peak District

was entirely privately owned,

a group of ramblers from Manchester staged a mass trespass there.

They demanded the rights for ordinary people

to walk in open countryside.

A few years later, the first National Parks were created

and they were built on the guiding principle

that everyone should be able to enjoy the countryside.

It's this principle which underpins the work

of the Peak District National Park Authority,

and its head ranger is Sean Prendergast.

We've got a plaque in a quarry in the car park.

The story of this place is intrinsically linked

with the history of the Peak District National Park.

People battled in the '30s to gain access to these places

because they thought these places should belong to everybody.

Today, Sean has to deal with contemporary conflicts

over the landscape, such as that on Cherpit Lane.

The residents of Great Longstone, it's their village

and they want tranquillity,

they want a quiet life,

if you like.

They see outsiders coming in and destroying it.

They see outsiders coming in and destroying part of their village.

The other side of that coin, the off-roaders are saying,

"Well, hang on a minute. This is an ancient right, it's our right.

"We just want to exercise that right." They're two extremes.

Bringing those two extremes together is difficult.

The Peak District Park Authority

is based in an old manor house in Bakewell.

Sean's small team is tucked away in an annexe.

It's their job to manage the park's 300 green lanes.

This is the access and rights-of-way team.

His second-in-command is Mike Rhodes.

We are trying to do our best to manage a very difficult situation.

People do get very upset and very passionate

about what's happening in the Peak District.

As Sean said, we have to try and take the middle ground

and we sometimes get a bit of a bashing for it, but hey-ho.

When you've got opposing views,

you're always going to be on the wrong side of one of those views.

Sean's team use this rights-of-way bible to assess every road,

going back to the days of horse and cart.

It's these ancient laws which the off-roaders refer to

when demanding their rights to use the green lanes.

-Is it a good read?

-I wouldn't say I've read it!

That sounds like I sit there in the bath reading it from cover to cover,

which isn't the case! I do refer to it quite a lot, yes.

I'm surprised there's not a dart on that map where Cherpit Lane is.

No, because Cherpit Lane is one of the many threads we have to address

in this rich tapestry we call rights-of-way management.

Sean's boss at the Park Authority is chief executive Jim Dixon.

He tells me it's the park's policy

to only ban off-roaders as an absolute last resort

because they have as much right

to enjoy the landscape as everybody else.

Everybody has rights in this debate.

-It's a complex issue.

-It's a complex issue.

Everyone has rights

and to just simply say nobody should be allowed to drive vehicles

on roads in the National Park

would be a kind of draconian response

that would cause more problems than it would resolve.

Equally, allowing anyone to drive any vehicle anywhere

is going to cause upset for a lot of people.

We know it is. It is now.

Who have we left behind?

At the end of October,

John and Joyce and the rest of Rocking The BOAT

are back on Cherpit Lane.

Sorry, Joyce, just explain the whistle again.

I'm wearing a whistle because I've been appointed

the safety officer for this morning.

Right, I see.

And if I hear any motorbikes or 4x4s... You'll see them all run!

SHE BLOWS WHISTLE

After the disappointment of

the meeting with Richard Entwistle on the off-roaders,

they are taking matters into their own hands.

Two metres.

Two metres, effectively.

They are measuring the lane's narrowest points

and doing a survey of people using it.

They are putting together a case for a traffic regulation order,

which will ban motorists.

TROs, as they are known,

are usually applied by the local council,

but in a National Park, the Park Authority also has the power

to enforce one, but only if the environment is being damaged.

Is that a bike I can hear? I can hear a bike.

Get the whistle out!

SHE BLOWS WHISTLE

Hey, stop!

This is the first time

I've seen trail bikers and walkers come face-to-face.

It feels tense.

-Go steady, please, in single file.

-That's what we're doing.

-Is he one of yours?

-Yes.

-I hope you tell him off. It's bloody dangerous.

SPEECH DROWNED OUT

As they drive past, I hear a scream further up the lane.

SHOUTING

-Did you get the one that nearly took Joyce?

-Yes, I got Joyce's number.

-Was he shouting at you, Joyce?

-Pardon?

-Did he shout at you?

-Yes, he did.

-He nearly knocked me down.

-He said, "What are you doing?"

-Joyce's feet were there and he was in this track.

-And what happened?

I had to fall back, more or less, onto the bank.

John calls the police.

Oh, good morning. I'd like to report some difficult, dangerous motoring

on Cherpit Lane in Great Longstone, please.

By the time the snow comes in November,

I learn that similar battles

to that over Cherpit Lane are taking place throughout the park.

I hear of confrontations

between walkers and off-roaders on other lanes.

Derbyshire police force

has been aware of the problem on green lanes for some time.

It's set up Operation Blackbrook,

which is being run by PC Kevin Lowe.

What a view! Aren't I privileged to work here?

Kevin's job is to make sure the off-roaders

are keeping to the legal routes

and that they obey traffic regulations.

Hiya.

OK. Just run my little thing over here,

just to see if we are licensed.

Yes, we could really do

with a bigger number plate on there, couldn't we?

-All four sides in that square. OK?

-Yes.

-And it applies to you...

Oh, there we go. That's a real no-no, isn't it?

Too small.

We require one of those letters to touch, as near as possible,

all four sides,

OK, to be a proper prescribed registration plate, and it isn't.

Are you confident that your horns work, your lights work?

-Yes.

-Yes?

-100%.

HORN BEEPS Again?

HORN BEEPS

Yours, sir?

ENGINE STARTS

HORN BEEPS

You can hear it go click, that's it. It's not making a proper noise now.

OK.

-Well, that's not acceptable, is it?

-Not at all.

-No, no.

What I'm going to have to do now is get my little book out.

I don't really think this part is appropriate for the camera

cos I'm going to get my book out now. OK?

-What's your date of birth?

-29...

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

You'll notice this month I've come equipped!

Every few months, PC Lowe chairs a public meeting at Bakewell Town Hall

where he reports back on the success of Operation Blackbrook.

Here to answer questions on behalf of the National Park

is the access and rights-of-way...

At this meeting, the panel

also consists of Mike Rhodes form the Park Authority

and Neil Hickman,

the County Council's assistant director of highways.

The audience includes people from Great Longstone,

but there are people from other villages throughout the park too.

Joyce has come equipped

with the results of Rocking The BOAT's Cherpit Lane survey.

She wants to get a traffic regulation order put on it.

Cherpit Lane becomes too narrow for four-wheeled vehicles.

The photographs show four Land Rovers driving down Cherpit Lane

and passing two walkers

who have been pressed into the wall to avoid injury.

The Land Rovers didn't stop.

Imagine what would have happened

if the other users that afternoon had been walkers with children,

people with limited mobility, or horse riders.

For safety reasons, please will you put a road traffic order

on Cherpit Lane?

I can't give you any assurance that Cherpit Lane will be subject

to a TRO, or even subject to us attempting a TRO,

because I don't know the full story behind it.

I would need to look into that further.

I just hope we don't have to wait for an accident to happen.

The man from the council says he cannot help Joyce.

If they want to start putting some of the damage right...

Now, the people in the audience focus their attack

on Mike Rhodes from the Park Authority.

The authority has a duty to look after the environment

and can ban off-roaders on these grounds.

But because it won't do so, the residents here are getting angry.

Yes, sir?

Will the Peak Park commit themselves

to revisiting the issue of TROs?

Because we understand that to put a TRO on,

using the Peak Park's own figures, costs less than £6,000.

APPLAUSE

The policy, as it stands, clearly states that we must

distinguish a lack of maintenance from an environmental impact.

Where there's lack of maintenance,

the Park Authority is not going to bail the Highway Authority out.

The statutory duty of the Peak Park is to protect the environment.

You do have the resources.

What we're hearing is that people, senior in the National Park,

have said, "If they are degraded, the environment's degraded,

"it's not our fault, it's Derbyshire County Council."

It doesn't square with your duty to protect the Peak Park.

The Park Authority's view is that damage to a green lane

is more likely to be a maintenance issue than an environmental matter.

But the audience won't accept this from Mike Rhodes.

-Yes, madam?

-If there's no resources dedicated to it,

then I don't understand how the Peak Park thinks it's carrying out

its responsibilities under the legislation.

I have to deal with the budget I'm given. That's all I get.

-You're the last question. You're on.

-The law's got to be changed.

The police can't change the law,

but we, the people, can, and we, the people, will!

It dawns on me, as this meeting draws to a close,

the arguments are less between the off-roaders and the residents,

but more between the residents and the Park Authority.

We're going to get to grips with the Peak Park.

They need to have a whole new view of what goes on in the Peak Park.

Maybe this is where the real conflict lies.

Thank you.

As December approaches, the conflict over green lanes

is gaining momentum - and it is the Park Authority in the firing line.

Stoney Middleton, Pindale, Abney -

many villages are reporting problems with off-roaders

on their green lanes.

What they do is back in and pull them out with a rope

and then someone else has a go.

I was worried they'd knock my walls down.

I hear of one farmer, Jeff,

who is so angry about off-roaders on his land

that he's started filming them.

That is what it was like when I drove round ten years ago.

That is the state of the lane eight years later.

Jeff believes the Park Authority should do more.

For some reason they feel that people can come and play

and they don't want to upset them.

The recreation seems to be a free-for-all.

The festive season arrives.

But I am getting a sense of growing tension amongst

the inhabitants of the park.

As we forgive those who trespass against us...

More villages are following Joyce's example

and starting their own campaign groups.

In Abney, Mark has organised a group

which wants to get off-roaders banned throughout the park.

Once again, the campaigners target the Park Authority.

This isn't true of all the offices or all the members,

but there are enough within the organisation who would rather

keep their head down, not to do anything and allow damage

and the rest to occur because it is easier that way.

It is not just villages.

Other campaign groups are also springing up throughout the park.

Like Peak Horsepower, led by Patricia Stubbs.

The Peak Park has a legal duty to protect the environment.

The legislation talks about tranquillity and the tranquil

enjoyment of the countryside.

We seem to have got ourselves in a situation where

anything goes in a national park,

and I cannot believe that was the intention

when national parks were created.

Then, in January, all these disparate groups decide to unite.

Horse-riders, walkers, villagers, they are coming together

to create one big campaign group called the Green Lanes Alliance.

Its simple aim is to rid off-roaders

from the Peak District forever.

The first meeting is held in secret,

at The Crispin pub in Great Longstone.

What is happening in there is that we are trying to form

a coalition of organisations and individuals

to work Peak Park-wide.

So we're on a very boring constitutional wrangle

about whether the constitution should include words such as

"Peak National Park" or "Peak District".

I think it is just not the right sort of meeting for television.

That is what they feel.

At the next Operation Blackbrook meeting,

chaired by PC Kevin Lowe, tempers flare.

I support the tourist industry, but we don't like to see

folk coming in with 4x4s and motorbikes and destroying it all.

APPLAUSE

It's a damn disgrace.

Mr Dixon gave a long reply, talking about this report and that report,

none of which is substantiated.

Our concern is that lack of leadership...

On this occasion, the chief executive of the park, Jim Dixon,

has come along to defend his authority

against the accusations of the campaigners.

There is a bit of a fog of misleading coming there, I'm afraid,

and it is a myth to say that nothing is being done.

All this guff, frankly, it's simply not true.

It's very, very easy to spin a story that tells the people

that are listening to you that somehow things are not right.

Let's look at the facts. Let's look at the update...

Let us look at the facts and the update

on the practical work that Mike and Andy and the team are doing.

At the moment, there isn't a single TRO...

It lists very specifically...

It lists specifically the action that is being taken.

What you wish to see done has not necessarily been done

because other more effective things have been done.

You have set the question...

Jim Dixon's team has identified 24 lanes which need attention.

The authority is part of a working group which considers

each of these lanes, and this group includes horse riders,

walkers, off-roaders and people from the council.

This track has been resurfaced by the council

and the Park Authority has put in place

a one-way system for the off-roaders.

These fords here were a real bomb site, weren't they?

It was really chewed up here. As you can see, 100% sustainable.

I would expect zero maintenance required on this section.

There is another route

where the Peak District National Park Authority

is helping walkers and cyclists.

It is about to be reopened after 40 years.

The Monsal Tunnels Project will allow people

to get from Bakewell to Buxton along an old railway line

without ever being disturbed by cars or trail bikes.

The 20-mile route includes four miles of atmospheric old tunnels.

Sean Prendergast is overseeing it.

It's a great feeling, isn't it? Eerie.

So this is going to be for people who want to cycle?

This will be... You will be able to cycle from Bakewell

right the way through almost into Buxton itself.

Just think of something

where you can go 15, 20 miles without encountering a car.

Do you not think it'd be a bit eerie to drive through as a young child?

I think it would be fantastic.

As long as it is 100% safe then the apprehension

is part of the thrill, part of the reason for doing it.

By opening up this old railway line, beautiful parts of the park

are being revealed to visitors for the first time in many years.

So you can't access this normally?

You've never been able to get up here because that tunnel was closed,

that tunnel was closed, this piece was closed off,

so it's 40 years since any member of the public will have seen that,

so now they can come along, look at it, admire it,

and, especially on a summer's day, just sit and watch.

You get moorhens and coots and everything down in the bottom there.

Is that the definition, to you, of tranquillity?

Ah, now. Tranquillity is about a state of mind.

It is a bit like meditation, then?

It sounds very hippy-ish, doesn't it?

I'm a solid working-class Northern lad but...

We don't meditate, but we think about things, that is what it is.

It just gives you a chance to think about things.

You wouldn't want to be typecast as a meditator?

I don't look like a meditator, do I?

I look more like a pie eater!

Come on, let's go. Meditator!

Where can you go and get a better view than that?

-It is quite a priceless view, isn't it?

-It's lovely.

-How old were you when you first saw this view?

-I would be...

Just after the war. I was born in 1937.

I notice that a lot of these benches have plaques on them.

I suppose you would be a candidate for a plaque.

I'm not ready for a plaque yet!

At the start of February,

the newly-formed Green Lanes Alliance gets its first big test.

A green lane called Hawkhill Road,

which sits next to the village of Eyam, is under dispute.

Today, a public enquiry is being held to decide

if the off-roaders can continue to use the road.

The Green Lanes Alliance has sent a delegation of its top campaigners,

but so has Richard Entwistle and his off-roading group PDVUG.

I am only allowed to film proceedings through a window.

It's being presided over by an inspector

appointed by the Government.

Each side puts its case to the inspector.

INAUDIBLE

In the end, the enquiry comes down on the side of the off-roaders.

They have successfully shown that the lane is a key part

of a network of roads around the village of Eyam.

It breaks my heart.

It just does.

I have lived and walked and ridden round here all my adult life.

It's terrible what's happening.

This is a huge blow to the newly-formed alliance

and they have learnt a difficult lesson.

The off-roaders are a formidable opponent,

well organised and with a vast knowledge of their legal rights.

So the Green Lanes Alliance decides to look

to the Peak District Park Authority for answers.

A special meeting has been called

at the Park Authority headquarters in Bakewell.

Other organisations, including the police

and the County Council, are also present.

We don't want off-roaders in national parks, period.

The general public want the national park to act this way.

A delegation from the Alliance demands to know

why Sean Prendergast's department won't close lanes to off-roaders.

It is clear what your duties are.

It is also clear what your powers are.

You have the ability to protect the environment using TROs.

Yet we have heard there will be no TROs.

The perception is certainly the case

that this authority is doing less than other authorities.

You're saying we're wrong. That's the perception.

Please can we find a way to expedite things quickly in the Peak District?

I know people that will not come to the Peak Park

because of the motorbikes.

That is fact. They will not come here, Mr Prendergast.

You are losing... You're losing tourists.

I am not here to lobby for the 4x4s.

In the same way, I am not here to lobby against them.

I don't think you should confuse independence

with inactivity.

There appears to be, on the part of some people,

a sense that we're doing nothing.

It's not true. We are responding without fear or favour.

And I'm sorry that that doesn't win any popularity competitions,

but, as a public body, that's how we have to behave.

Because, as angry as you are, there are other people who believe

that there SHOULD be 4x4 roads, who are equally angry.

We cannot show favour to them either.

We have to act in an independent manner

so that every decision we've made is justifiable, is robust.

We can substantiate a legal challenge to it.

Can I just close the meeting because it is 4:00pm.

The Green Lanes Alliance is not happy

with the outcome of this meeting.

But the authority has a legal responsibility

to make sure the park is available to everybody.

Failure to do that would be going against the very principles

on which it was founded.

All the views that we go to in this park are romantic. Definitely.

-We always carry vinegar.

-You carry that with you?

-Yes.

Because you can never put enough vinegar on in the chip shop.

One of our favourite places is to stop in Bakewell,

take the fish and chips, and walk along the river.

-Right.

-That is another lovely place, Bakewell.

Or we drive out, we get our fish and chips in Bakewell

and drive out to Longstone Edge,

which is a better view than this, actually.

This is a really nice view and it's good when the fog lifts.

But the view from Longstone Edge is even more stunning, isn't it?

Yes, it is. Yes, you can see a lot further.

So there are different combinations of views and chips to be had?

-That's right.

-Depending on your mood.

The other thing is, we'll stop at the fish and chip shop in Bradwell

-and drive to Ladybower Lake.

-And have them there?

Or Ladybower Reservoir.

-Which is another stunning place.

-Another stunning view.

-That's my absolute favourite.

-Is it?

-Ladybower Reservoir.

In spite of the disappointment of the meeting with Sean Prendergast

and the Park Authority,

there is some good news for the Green Lanes Alliance.

A few weeks ago, the Park Authority revealed for the first time ever

it was considering closing a green lane to off-roaders.

It's called Chapel Gate and it's just outside the village of Edale.

This badly eroded lane is going to be repaired

by Derbyshire County Council

but the Peak District Park Authority is concerned the erosion

is also spreading to the land either side of the lane.

For that reason, it's considering closing it to traffic.

Sean Prendergast and his team want to put an experimental traffic ban

on the lane for 18 months to see if the land can repair itself.

But they cannot just impose the ban straightaway.

They need to undergo a lengthy public consultation first

and then get the decision approved by the authority's board members.

As part of the consultation,

John and Joyce and other members of Rocking The BOAT

are taking a look at the route.

Right, can I check, love,

-is this SK 107841?

-Yes.

Damage to this section is very severe

due to the combined effects of vehicle use and water erosion,

resulting in increasing damage to the footpath.

The footpath has thus been widened and deepened.

The area of bare ground has expanded and is further open to erosion.

Sue, I think this is probably a mud flap off a 4x4.

While we're on Chapel Gate looking at the view,

it occurs to me why this campaign means so much

to people like John and Joyce.

This is not just a national park.

It's the landscape of their life story.

That round, grassy hill is Grindslow Knoll.

I proposed to Joyce on top of that hill.

I sort of stumbled into it and Joyce said, "Yes. When?"

And there we were, engaged. Out of the blue.

It was romantic, yes, because it was an area we loved. We still love.

Sue and Chris Woods also have a confession to make.

It was after the emotional stress of going along Striding Edge

in a snowstorm that we first made love, actually!

LAUGHTER

And he knew I was afraid of heights!

If the Park Authority approves the closure,

it will be a huge victory for the newly-formed alliance

and a turning point in the battles over green lanes.

If we go for an order, if it's an 18-month experimental order...

A few weeks later, it's time to discuss the findings of

the consultation on Chapel Gate.

Over 500 people have responded.

Lots of them are off-roaders opposing it.

Mike Rhodes reads out one of the comments.

"You are unfairly discriminating against one particular user group

"for the perceived enjoyment of another. That's discrimination."

I think if that were true it would be, but that's not what we're doing.

You know? We're not doing this because the ramblers

don't like motorbikes in the countryside,

any more than we'd be doing it

if they didn't like horses or mountain bikes.

-We are doing it for very, very clear environmental reasons.

-Absolutely.

I think we've already reached

the decision that we're going to go to the members with.

After analysing the findings, Sean's team is recommending

the Park Authority board vote to impose the ban on off-roaders.

The board meets in a few weeks' time.

Back on Chapel Gate, the trail bikers greet the news with dismay.

They believe their rights are now being slowly eroded.

A bike has no larger impact than a horse

and a horse is allowed to roam freely.

We're not, for some reason, you know.

We only have limited access now.

There's miles and miles of footpaths available.

I'm not telling anyone where they can and can't walk

and these routes here are legal.

I don't see why I should be told where I can and can't ride.

If it's legal then we'll ride it.

60 ramblers do far more damage to a path than one motorbike.

Why do you think it is the ramblers, you know,

if you're not causing any damage, don't want you in the area?

Because they kid themselves into thinking

that it's the pretty, green England of 1950,

where everything was ginger beer and sandwiches.

It's springtime.

We need a public debate on this issue,

so commission has been given and I'm assuming...

The board members of the Park Authority

are considering the recommendation

to ban off-roaders from a green lane for the first time.

The 11 board members who will vote on the TRO

are either elected parish councillors

or people appointed by the Government.

Campaigners from both sides of this battle

have come to listen to the meeting.

What we have to remember

is we've got to respect different views on this issue.

The chairman introduces the debate.

Our first duty is to the natural beauty of the park.

We can't stress too strongly its importance to the local communities.

One of the board members, Professor John Herbert,

appears critical of Sean and his team for not acting fast enough.

Why has it taking so long to set up the Chapel Gate experiment here?

Could we do it quicker in future if other such occasions arise?

I don't think that it has been unduly long.

It's been careful and considered and through proper process.

We're very, very clear as to why we are making this recommendation

in this particular case,

as opposed to other recommendations in other cases.

Local communities don't understand. Local communities want action fast.

It's an example where we, as an authority, have a different view

of speed to the rest of the world, it seems to me.

Then Professor Herbert brings into question

the Park Authority's whole policy on off-roading.

I do think it is absolutely crucial that we have a thorough review

of our existing policy.

I hope that we will now be looking seriously at other similar places

where we should also be doing TROs - either experimental or permanent.

I move the recommendation to the chair.

Then it's time to vote.

All those in favour of the motion?

The vote is unanimous. Chapel Gate is to be closed.

For the first time in its history,

the Park Authority is banning off-roaders from a green lane.

But that's not all.

Because of the members' strong feelings, it's also going to review

its park-wide policy on all green lanes in July.

John and Joyce asked me to drive over to Great Longstone

after the meeting, to tell them the result.

-Hello, Richard.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you again.

So, Richard, how did it go?

-They approved it.

-Approved?

-Oh, great!

-Approved?

-For sure?

Oh, great! Oh, smashing!

The delight in Great Longstone

is not shared by the off-roading community.

A week later, in June, on a day out off-roading,

Richard Entwistle tells me his organisation

is planning to fight the decision.

All is not lost.

But it's on the slippery slope to being lost.

And the experimental traffic regulation order?

The experimental traffic regulation order?

One thing I've learned about the off-roaders

in the making of this film is that they're not prepared

to give up the green lanes without a fight.

It's been proposed for illegitimate reasons, for the wrong reasons.

Or invalid reasons.

That's a difficult one to answer because we're not the legal minds.

No.

-And although we can supply opinions till the cows come home...

-And do!

..it's the legal people who have to decide on

what sort of challenge will work in court.

And there are some legal people who are working on this

at the moment for the user groups

-to see what sort of a case we can make.

-So, it's got until...

-Mid-July.

-..till mid-July to mount a legal challenge.

In June, a few weeks before the Park Authority board

makes a decision about its whole policy on off-roading,

I'm out and about in the park with the chief executive, Jim Dickson.

Just mind the traffic here.

When I started filming,

Jim maintained his authority would not close lanes to off-roaders.

But now, that might be about to change.

I can see our members taking a different decision,

saying we need to put a bit more resource into

the issue of off-road vehicles.

Ultimately, it is possible that we could reduce the scope

for off-road vehicle use such that there is a lot less overall use

by off-road vehicles in the Peak District.

But Jim has a warning for anyone who thinks the answer is

simply to ban all off-roaders from the park.

One of the great achievements of this National Park

in its early days, and one of the huge drivers

for its creation was to create more access to the countryside.

So, the Kinder Trespass in 1932.

These great people were fighting for access to the countryside.

So if we're going to be withdrawing rights of access,

we have to be very, very careful that we're doing it right.

In July, just two weeks before the Park Authority makes decisions

about its whole policy on off-roading,

I'm meeting up with villagers, horse-riders, cyclists.

People I've got to know over the past year in the Peak District.

-How are you, Sue?

-Yes, we've had a good walk here.

-We're already walked 4.5 miles.

-Is that your bike?

-It is.

Just get me on the flat bits. I'll look good!

These campaigners

are not in the mood to heed Jim Dickson's message.

In fact, in an act reminiscent of the Kinder Trespass,

they are marching together,

up to one of the Peak District's famous sights, Stanage Edge.

Unlike the Kinder Scout trespassers,

these campaigners are marching to keep people out of the park,

not make the countryside available to everyone.

They've successfully got a ban on Chapel Gate.

Now they want off-roaders banned throughout the park.

When people in the Peak District don't like something,

they start walking.

When people couldn't get on to these moors, they marched,

trespassed, to show their hunger to get on them.

And today, we've all walked here to send a strong message

to the Peak District National Park Authority -

get tough, stop all off-roading activity.

Thank you for listening. Have a great day and picnic!

APPLAUSE

This was the last time I filmed with the campaigners.

The Park Authority did meet, but decided not to make changes

to its off-roading policy until later in the year.

But there is a change on Cherpit Lane.

Some traffic-calming signs have been put up.

It's a small victory for Joyce and the villagers.

But they are continuing their campaign

to get the off-roaders banned.

-It's nice to be back here, Joyce.

-Yes, yes...

-How are you doing?

-I'm doing well, thank you.

It's a hugely industrial structure in the middle of a wild landscape.

That's the highest point?

Imagine that projecting out to where that flag is.

You'll deface it for ever more!

We do need to strike a balance.

Obviously, with the decision they made, they don't respect us.

-It's just not fair.

-No.

-It's not fair.

They can push their ivory tower where the sun don't shine.