epicyclo – Member
My heart bleeds for the estate owners and their loss making estates.
Perhaps they would consider turning them over to the local community so they can be spared this great loss.
Unfortunately that is the prevailing attitude and is not very helpful. It is very expensive to maintain tracks, paths, drainage etc. Whoever owns the estates has to make money from it to cover these costs. Without maintenance access would quickly deteriorate as would our ability to enjoy that access.
Heather_Bash, to quote from the article in that link:
Hill tracks are important for essential land management and allow ease of access for farmers.
Farmers and crofters have a legitimate need to construct, maintain and develop tracks constructed in lower lying land for their purposes of land management.
I am absolutely not defending the right of landowners to bulldoze tracks anywhere they want in the countryside. I am trying to point out that there has to be some consideration from MTBers and other users that our ability to easily access the hills is down to the invesment by the estates in their tracks, paths and drainage. This comes at a big cost, and estates make very little or no profit to pay for this