Inclusion of Horse Riders in Active Travel Plans

In June 2025 we wrote to Elsie Blundel MP as follows.

"Dear Elsie,

We would very much appreciate you formally raising equestrian usage of active travel routes, when you sit on the Transport Select Committee. If you could raise a written question with the Government we would very much appreciate it. We have been trying for a number of years to raise this in active travel routes in the area. For instance, the Castleton Cycle Lane where we asked for horses to be able to use the cycle lane, as having cars passing on the right and cycles zooming past on the left is a recipe for disaster. Another example is the Northern Gateway on Pilsworth, the Active Travel Paths are planned for pedestrians and cyclists yet allowing equestrians to use the paths would provide a safe off road link of the bridleways in Rochdale and those in Bury. We have received nothing from our correspondence not even an acknowledgement of our question. 

The particular concern with the Mary Townley Loop is the fact that if the Turbines are approved in their current locations then this will be yet another Safe Off Road route which will be effectively lost to the equestrian community. The Shadow Throw which will definitely occur along the Mary Towneley Loop, will render the National Trail unusable for equestrian access. 

Kind regards

Pat Tough

Chair of NBH Bridleways Association"

In her response she offered to raise a paliamentary question which got the result as follows

Question:

Elsie Blundell

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of bridleways on supporting active travel nationally.  

Answer:

Simon Lightwood:

Bridleways have an important role to play in enabling active travel across the country. To support local authorities seeking to deliver active travel schemes outside of towns and cities, Active Travel England is developing specific guidance for good practice application in rural contexts and expects to publish this later this year. The guidance will explore how best bridleways (and other elements of the Public Rights of Way network) can be incorporated and integrated into existing and proposed active travel networks to expand their reach and connectivity. This will potentially have benefits for a range of different path users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders. 

We were concerned with the response that it seemed to imply that they were only concerned with rural areas. We pointed out to Elsie that they seemed to be blind to the huge numbers of horses in the urban areas which are regularly ridden and driven on the roads and tracks. and that we thought she should be made aware of this, in case she wished to make comments on behalf of the BHS to try to get urban areas included.

We were delighted that she then went on to raise another Parliamentary question as follows

Question:  

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of bridleways on supporting active travel in urban areas. 

Answer:  

Simon Lightwood 

Decisions on measures to support active travel, including through the use of bridleways, are a matter for local authorities. 

Active Travel England encourages local authorities to consult with local groups, such as equestrians, where any proposed active travel project involves the proposed use of a bridleway. This is appliable to both urban and rural areas.  

We will continue to push at all opportunities with both the Council and Councillors to try to encourage them to consider Horse Riders when they look at any Active Travel Schemes