Battle between trail riders and council heads to Supreme Court

A dispute between a county council and a group of trail riders over the status of certain rural routes is to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Three justices have given Dorset County Council permission to appeal a ruling by the Court of Appeal in favour of the Trail Riders Fellowship.

The local authority had originally rejected five applications made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for modifications orders to the definitive map statement (‘DMS’).

The aim of the applicant was to achieve the upgrading of existing rights of way from footpath or bridleway to ‘byways open to all traffic’ or BOATs. If successful, this would allow fellowship members and others to ride motorcycles on them.

Refusing the applications, Dorset’s roads and rights of way committee concluded that the applications were not in strict compliance with the requirements of Schedule 14 of the 1981 Act.

The committee found that the applications in question were accompanied by computer-generated enlargements of ordnance survey maps and not by maps drawn to a scale of not less than 1:25,000.

In the High Court Mr Justice Supperstone ruled in favour of the county council. He agreed that the applications were accompanied by a map that was not a 1:25,000 scale map.

In Trail Riders Fellowship & Anor, R (on the application of) v Dorset County Council & Ors [2013] EWCA Civ 553 the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling.

Lord Justice Maurice Kay, giving the judgment of the court, said: “I conclude that a map which is produced to a scale of 1:25,000, even if it is digitally derived from an original map with a scale of 1:50,000, satisfies the requirements of paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 14 provided that it is indeed ‘a map’ and that it shows the way or ways to which the application relates.”