Representation by Nigel Linge
- Date submitted
- 11 December 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am the Chair of the Wilts and Swindon Countryside Access Forum but writing as an individual. In the past 10 years I have staffed 38 x DMMO and diversions for MOD and led a team of volunteers to insert, replace or repair some 1,600 rights of way signs and way marks on Salisbury Plain. Wiltshire has a fantastic rights of way network and is blessed with some continuous lengths of byways open to all traffic (BOAT). By closing Amesbury 12 to MPV, the old Wilton to Oxford Road is being severed. In the 1980s, when the IRA were bombing barracks, Durrington 10 (a continuation of the route) was diverted away from the former “open” Larkhill Camp onto the present route of Durrington 29 but vehicular rights were retained. As Range Safety Officer on Salisbury Plain Training Area, I diverted Figheldean 21 onto a more sustainable route but a continuous MPV route was retained. It is questionable that the old A344 remains a tarmac road that delivers a million paying customers a year to the heart of the WHS, while attempting to deny MPV users their rights on Amesbury 11, 12 and the old A303. Once the A303 is in a tunnel a few MPV users driving on the metalled remnants of the A303 will be far less intrusive to the WHS than the continuous shuttle runs on the old A344. Very thorough Public Inquiries have reviewed MPV use on these routes and found it not to be intrusive. They did observe that agricultural vehicles were responsible for more damage than recreational users. Finally, I was the Secretary of the Salisbury Plain Environmental Steering Group for 5 years. MoD commissioned a report on possible disturbance of Stone Curlews. The report demonstrated that vehicles have very little effect on stone curlews. As the land owner has denied use of the alternative BOAT route between Byways 11 and 12, then the A303 should be retained as a metalled BOAT.