Peak Horsepower, SPEED and Tameside Riders have teamed up to get the Pennine Bridleway finished at Glossop and highlight the dangers riders are facing.
Sign their petition here!
The Pennine Bridleway (PBW) is one of 15 long-distance National Trails in England and Wales only 2 of which are accessible to horse riders and cyclists. The PBW stretches from Ravenstone Dale in Cumbria to Middleton Top in Derbyshire.
The National Trails website says that “The Pennine Bridleway offers horse riders, cyclists and walkers the opportunity to explore 205 miles of the Pennines’ ancient packhorse routes, drovers roads and newly created bridleways”. Although it was officially opened in 2012, around Glossop and Charlesworth, horse riders, walkers and cyclists still have to take to dangerous roads for five to six miles. It also means that the Pennine Bridleway is not being used as much as it could be despite having cost taxpayers many millions of pounds since it was started almost 20 years ago in 1999.
Local horse riders have identified a potentially much cheaper alternative route for the gap but DCC are failing to take the initiative and work with partners to consider this or other solutions which means that horse riders, cyclists and walkers continue to be put at risk.
Bureaucratic budget timing differences between NE and DCC have led to tens of thousands of pounds of money supposedly dedicated to the project going unspent. The terrain for the proposed route for bridging the gap is extremely difficult in places making it slow and expensive to progress.
