Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 25 Jun 2002
25 Jun 2002 · S1 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Land (Equestrian Access) (PE521)
Zoe Woods:
Watch on SPTV
This is the first time that I have made such a presentation.I live on the edge of what will be Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park. I have lived there for five years, and for 10 years before I moved to Scotland, I was a tourist in that area with my family. Before I moved to Scotland, I was the manager of an M4 casualty unit. I have two interests: access and road safety for horse riders. The two must go hand in hand. In the UK, 45 per cent of horse owners do not own horse transport. Narrow, winding, rural roads are the most dangerous for the ridden horse, because blind bends and blind summits reduce sight lines and traffic can travel at 60mph.Five years ago, the British Horse Society was motivated to produce a road safety video, following the appalling death of a horse on a rural road. A motorist piled into the back of the horse and rider. The horse and rider were carried 20yd on the roof of the car. The horse's back legs and back were broken, and it lay on the road for 45 minutes before slaughtermen could be found to put it out of its misery.Scotland has the highest rate of horse ownership per head of population outside south-east England. I have recently conducted an audit of our area and counted 400 riding horses between Drymen and Balquhidder. The national cycle path provides safe off-road access into and out of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park. Great chunks of that are inaccessible to us, even though, once upon a time, parts of that path were used by local horse riders. That is curious when we consider that the big three equestrian organisations have two and a half times the number of supporters of Sustrans.Equestrian recreation is important for Scotland's tourism economy. Of people who seek an activity holiday in Scotland, 54 per cent would like to ride a horse and 59 per cent would like to play golf. Imagine the Trossachs without a golf course. Six million Britons would like to ride when they are on holiday. That equates to the number who want to walk. We are weeks away from opening Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park and there is no pony trekking in the Queen Elizabeth or Achray forests. No network of rides and accommodation offers bed-and-breakfast holidays for horses and riders and not a single metre of path has been laid with horse riders' interests at heart. The petitioners whom I have met have two frequent requests: safe off-road access into the park for us and our horses and soft paths on which we can canter.That last request is consistently opposed by Forest Enterprise and all those people who will manage the path, on the basis that if we canter, we will trample pedestrians. Ninety per cent of the members of the British Horse Society are female and 60 per cent of us are over 45, so I ask people to disperse from their minds any vision of a Thelwell cartoon.If members have ever seen the film "Gandhi", they may remember that moving scene in which Gandhi and his Hindu followers are charged by a British cavalry regiment. Gandhi tells his people to lie on the road. They lie on the road in front of galloping horses, and the horses refuse to go forward—they throw their riders. Horses are reluctant to step on people and we are a responsible group of people.We ask for safe access to the forest. When we are there, we girls just want to have fun with our horses. Thank you for listening.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
PE521 is from Zoe Woods, on the subject of equestrian access to land. I invite Zoe Woods to take a seat at the table. The usual rules apply. The petitioner w...
Zoe Woods:
I must take off my glasses. I cannot see you without them but I cannot read with them.
The Convener:
Lab
I am in the same position.
Zoe Woods:
This is the first time that I have made such a presentation.I live on the edge of what will be Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park. I have lived ther...
Dr Ewing:
SNP
There are two problems. One is inside the park. You just told us that Forest Enterprise objects to soft paths for cantering. However, the main problem is ent...
Zoe Woods:
Forest Enterprise recently received £1.4 million from the European Commission for access. For horse riders, it is increasing car parking areas for lorries an...
Phil Gallie:
Con
Over recent times, we have created a national cycle track system. Can people on horseback use cycle tracks?
Zoe Woods:
Yes, although tarmac is not ideal for trotting on. As horses get older, they get arthritis and tarmac is not good for them. Nonetheless, we take them on the ...
Phil Gallie:
Con
In some circumstances, a cycle path could be an additional means of access to a place for you to take your horses.
Zoe Woods:
Yes.
Phil Gallie:
Con
So, there is a use there.
Zoe Woods:
One of the young ladies who signed my petition is 20 years old. When she started work, she saved up and bought her first horse. She keeps it in a field in Ca...
Phil Gallie:
Con
We may have some difficulty with the specific instance of the national park, as there is now another authority to deal with that. However, the issue that you...
Zoe Woods:
Yes. I also submitted the petition to raise awareness. An awful lot of folk think that horse riding is a minority interest or the preserve of the affluent. H...
Phil Gallie:
Con
I am slightly surprised that people in the tourism industry have not made more of the issue. Pony trekking must be an important feature of the tourism industry.
Zoe Woods:
It should be. Pony trekking in the UK started in Aberfoyle. In the 1950s, a film called "Rob Roy" was made, for which a local Highland pony breeder provided ...
Phil Gallie:
Con
The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is currently proceeding through the Parliament. What contact have you and your group had with your local MSPs in reference to...
Zoe Woods:
I have talked to Sylvia Jackson, who recently supported a tramp the Trossachs campaign. When I rang the organisers of that campaign and said, "You have addre...
Phil Gallie:
Con
Finally, do you occasionally find that people who access the land by foot take exception to horses and cyclists using the same facilities?
Zoe Woods:
They do in Scotland, but that is exceptional. In England, we have bridleways. When I rode on bridleways, I used to see walkers, dog walkers and cyclists and ...
Phil Gallie:
Con
Yes. Thank you.
John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD):
LD
What has changed with the establishment of the national parks, particularly in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs? Has access for equestrian pursuits changed?
Zoe Woods:
No. More parking is being introduced and about six or eight particular areas where horse riders can ride are being publicised. Surfaces have not been introdu...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
Yes. However, your petition suggests that the problem relates to pony trekking rather than the other equestrian pursuits.
Zoe Woods:
No. Two aspects of the matter need to be considered. First, there is the local community. There are 400 riding horses in our local community that do not have...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
How should the issue be addressed in the local communities that you are concerned about?
Zoe Woods:
The local community would like three projects to be advanced. One is Coiuhallan woods outside Callander. In 1997, it was minuted at the community council mee...
Rhoda Grant:
Lab
I have a question that relates to national rather than local issues. One of the biggest barriers to horse riding is gates, as you explained. Erecting stiles,...
Zoe Woods:
There is the very expensive solution to the problem that is used by Windsor great park, where there are buttons that one presses to automatically open and cl...
Rhoda Grant:
Lab
I am not suggesting that you would leave gates open. However, I think that many farmers would say that if there is a gate, other people will use it and might...