Horse riders in Telford spurred on by bridleway success

Telford’s horse riders are celebrating success after a planning inspector backed their bid to upgrade a footpath to a bridleway.

Members of Telford Bridleways Association (TBA) had requested that the School Lane footpath in Coalbrookdale be upgraded after reviewing local routes more than 20 years ago.

Objections to the change to the route – also known as Ginny Rails – were made at an advanced stage in the process by former Ironbridge Gorge borough councillor Louise Lomax and The Gorge Parish Council.

A public inquiry was held in Southwater One, Telford, in July and inspector Claire Tregembo last week handed down her decision.

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The TBA’s Sally-Anne Robinson said: “We are pleased to announce that the inspector found in Telford Bridleways Association’s favour so the order will be made, in other words, this stretch of Rough Park Way will be upgraded to bridleway status.”

She added: “Because the original application was made over 20 years ago, two of the witnesses in support of the application were 79 years of age!”

She added that there is currently a backlog of some 45 bridleway applications in The Gorge.

“I sincerely hope that these won’t require a further 45 public inquiries when the orders are finally made,” she added.

“The use of horses during the Industrial Revolution and beyond, to pull carts or work down the mines, is as an important part of our heritage as is the Ironbridge itself.

“There are less horses kept in the Telford area now, as grazing land is lost to housing developers, but their presence in the area should not be forgotten nor ignored.

“Telford Bridleways Association welcomes’ dialogue with any of the parish councils to help smooth the way for this back log in bridleway applications to be sorted whilst we still have witnesses around from when the applications were first made over 20 years ago.”

Inspector Tregembo found that the route was a tramway and physically existed as far back as 1884.

“The parties have conflicting views on the existence of barriers, and no horse riding notices along the order route,” the inspector wrote.

“However, horse riders provided detailed evidence of their use of the order route and the lack of obstructions along it.

“I consider there is sufficient evidence of use of the order route by horse riders during this period without interruption, permission, secrecy, force, or challenge.

“I also do not consider there is sufficient evidence of any actions by any landowners to demonstrate a lack of intention to dedicate public bridleway rights over the order route.”