Julia Bradbury - once in my top 10, not any more...

[Woody3]

Well, my gf lives near Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

She received a letter through this morning from Julia Bradbury (the one of Countryfile, which I took a liking to ) basically asking for support to close the green lanes in Derbyshire/Peak District. .

I don't know the full ins and outs of the letter just yet as I am yet to see it, but will soon study it and a scanned copy will be uploaded.

Just thought I would make you all aware

[disco_al]

that's a bit hypocritical of her considering she did the mcmillan challenge last year IIRC.

maybe it's about time that countryfile did a piece on laning as a feature? highlight the work that goes into maintaining them etc... and how responsible laners do it?

[David Sparkes]

Woody3, please do keep us updated on this. The Peak and Derbyshire Vehicle User Group (PDVUG) will be interested to establish the background of this 'attack' on the local green lanes. There are various initiatives already in place to present, in a positive manner, the activities of responsible laners, both on 4 and 2 wheels.

PDVUG is an umbrella organisation, drawing support from National organisations like GLASS and TRF, but also more locally based clubs such as Peak & Dukeries, Buxton and District LRC, Virtual Peak TRF, and others. We have good contacts with Derbyshire CC and the Peak Park Authority, with planning in place to support repair work on a particular lane in the new year.

We are also co-operating with a freelance film-maker who has a commission from BBC4 to create three 1 hour programmes on the National Parks in the Peak, the Lakes, and the Trossachs. We have no editorial control of course, but more experienced heads than mine seem to think we are doing alright so far. He's been greenlaning with us, and been to several meetings, both PDVUG and the more public Blackbrook Governance meetings run by the Police, as well as an 'extreme' meeting held by a ginger group in Great Longstone. We (PDVUG) came in for a bit of a kicking, but maintained a reasonable and polite response (a concious act on our behalf - there were no concessions made).

All is not lost, but we do need input from everyone who wants to maintain the facilities we have.

Regards, David.

[Woody3]

Letter...to be fair to her, it's not written by Julia, but the leaflet that was attached to the letter (see next post) has her little input

EDIT: (actually her name is right at the bottom)

[Woody3]

Attachment to letter

[TJN]

Has anyone tried to contact her?

[Anderzander]

Its these guys then I expect - Julia is their President.

David - if I can help in anyway, please let me know.

[TJN]

Taken from her website:

Please direct all personal enquiries to:

Gina Fox, Direct Access

Telephone: 020 7431 7454 | email ginafox@directaccess.uk.net

If you wish to write to Julia personally, why not

email her or post letters to: Ms. Julia Bradbury,

PO Box 18612, London NW3 2GH.

[David Sparkes]

Thanks everyone, I'll pass on details to my colleagues on PDVUG as I think I'm the only one of them on this forum.

I suspect they know of 'Friends of The Peak District', I think I've heard of them before, but have no details.

We may find out if this is an indiscriminate mass leafleting recruitment campaign, or whether Woodys GF has been associating with people she shouldn't oughta :-)

By all means respond directly to the links TJN has provided, but recall we are going for the responsible and moral high ground here, no tyre tracks across her lawn, etc :-)

The Peak Park is designated as being available for all types of users, and no one group should attempt to disbar any other group. Tourism plays a significant part in the income of local residents and businesses, so anyone choosing to live in North Derbyshire and the Peak District should take into account the influx of visitors, and welcome them for the positive benefits they bring.

In some cases their statements are wrong and confusing. They deliberately 'muddy the water' if you will excuse the pun.

For instance, they say "Most off-roading happens on lanes and paths where cars should not have the priority."

Of course, the term 'off-roading' means different things to different people. We mean literally 'not on the road, whatever the surface'; they mean 'driving on roads that are not tarmac covered'.

We do not drive on paths, we drive on roads, some of which are unsurfaced. Cars do not have priority, car drivers share the road space with any other legal user, on foot, on bicycle, or on horse.

Note that we do share some common aims (although the details may bring us into conflict).

We agree about wanting to do away with illegal off-roading (literally driving where there is no road), and so we agree with the work they detail on Houndkirk Moor.

We agree with "Report actual incidents of illegal off-roading to your local police", although we also take the proactive route of co-operating with the Police on days they run Operation Blackbrook, which generally see us offering advice and information to people driving on legal unsurfaced roads, and occasionally illegally on 'Sites of Special Scientific Interest'.

Their point "We're lobbying for ... innovative solutions such as developing dedicated, less sensitive areas for off-roading" finds me in personal agreement. There are a lot of closed and worked out quarries in Derbyshire. These naturally tend to contain the noise of motorised vehicles, so why not create off-road areas for drivers who want a challenge? The ground has been raped already, what is there to 'save'?

Regards, David.

[Woody3]

We may find out if this is an indiscriminate mass leafleting recruitment campaign, or whether Woodys GF has been associating with people she shouldn't oughta :-)

The letter is of the former "indiscriminate mass leafleting recruitment campaign". She is NOT a member of Friends of the Peak District.

I couldn't have put the rest of your post better

[headhunter]

Taken from her website:

Please direct all personal enquiries to:

Gina Fox, Direct Access

Telephone: 020 7431 7454 | email ginafox@directaccess.uk.net

If you wish to write to Julia personally, why not

email her or post letters to: Ms. Julia Bradbury,

PO Box 18612, London NW3 2GH.

Gina is Julia's sister, so any issue with this is likely to be taken seriously.

Gina also did the 2009 Mac4x4 so is very familiar with the sector.

Julia was I believe brought up in the Peaks area so there may well be some local pressure. She could well be between 'a rock and the hard place' on this!

John

[jad]

I am a member of Beds Herts and Cambs LRC. I did the MAC4x4 the same year that Russ Brown, a member of the same club, did the MAC4x4 with Julia Bradbury. I sent him the details of this thread. He contacted Gina, Julia's sister and PA who gave this response to Russ:

Russ

This letter is not endorsed in any way by Julia and feel free to quote me on that.

I have copied you in on an email that I sent to someone else so that you can see my response.

x

GINA FOX

So someone is telling Porkies.........

[mudmagnet]

seems that julia is using countryfile against us now

even though the part of the peak district that these guys are supposed to be trashing is a pay and play site in bedfordshire

its on bbc iplayer but i cant get a link to work

[garyjrode]

Hi all, just to add my 5 cents, why do all these do go'ers feel they have the right to tell everyone else, how we should enjoy the outdoors, it is not like there are tens of thousands of off roaders that will destroy every last inch of the great outdoors. All we ask for is a place where we can get dirty but this they find offencive, WHYYYYYY are ask WHYYYYYY.

Ok rant over, blood preasure returning to normal.

[JJB Serenity]

maybe it's about time that countryfile did a piece on laning as a feature?

careful what you wish for in future!

highlight the work that goes into maintaining them etc... and how responsible laners do it?

that would have been nice wouldn't it. but then their 'report' wouldn't have made us all look like slightly challenged teenagers who tear up the countryside