Closure of wild trails in Cannock Chase Forest

The request was partially successful.

Dear Forestry England,

Could you please provide all of the documentation you have relating to wild mountain bike trails in Cannock Chase Forest and the recent closure of a number of them, including the following, as per V4 of Forestry England’s Unauthorised Trails and Desire Lines Practice Guide:

- a copy of the risk-based analysis conducted before deciding to close the trails 

- a copy of the notice you previously posted on the trails providing details of how riders could get in touch with you giving them a 
reasonable time to respond

- a copy of the inspection file/site inspection 

- any records or evidence of hazards 

- a copy of the rationale for the decision to close the trails

- any reports of accidents or near-misses relating to the trails 

- any complaints that have been received from the public, neighbours, or others

Yours faithfully,

Robin Grant

Dear Forestry England,

I submitted this request over 20 working days ago. Could you please either respond with the information requested or let me know what legal reason you have for not responding?

Yours faithfully,

Robin Grant

Information Rights FE,

2 Attachments

Dear Robin Grant,

 

Thank you for your request for information. Please find our response
letter attached to this email.

 

Yours sincerely,

Knowledge and Information Team

 

show quoted sections

Dear Forestry England

Thanks for getting back to me.

Having read your response, I’d summarise my understanding of it as you only closed the trails in question due to the harvesting operations that were taking place, which were part of your ongoing annual work programme in accordance with the Cannock Chase Forest Plan.

cheers

Robin Grant

Robin Grant left an annotation ()

For the avoidance of doubt, despite the above, it’s very clear Forestry England did not follow their own guidelines when closing these trails

Robin Grant left an annotation ()

For anyone that's interested, here is Forestrey England's Unauthorised
Trails and Desire Lines Practice Guide:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/8...

And the appendix -Unauthorised Trail and Desire Lines RAG Guide (Red/Amber/Green):
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/8...