COUNTRYSIDE campaigners are calling for off-road vehicles to be banished from the ancient green lanes of the Yorkshire Dales, reports Paul Duncan.

A petition launched by the Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance has now received 4,000 signatures, which organisers believe shows the depth of feeling among residents and visitors alike against the use of off-road vehicles on the green lanes of the Dales.

A spokesman for the Alliance, a group which seeks to prevent degradation of the landscape by recreational vehicles, said: "These vehicles wreck the fragile tracks, are a danger to other users of the tracks, and disturb the peace and tranquillity that used to be taken for granted deep in the countryside of the Dales."

The Alliance is calling for the North Yorkshire County Council to apply traffic regulation orders prohibiting recreational vehicles from green lanes and also for Parliament to amend "archaic" highway laws that make no distinction between a horse and cart and powerful 4x4 vehicles.

"The green lanes that are such a precious part of Dales heritage should be given legal protection against vehicles for which they were never designed, and which they cannot sustain."

Jon Avison, head of park management at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: "We share many of the concerns of the Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance about the impact of recreational vehicles.

"The YDNPA considers recreational motor vehicle use in the park is inappropriate and we have lobbied Parliament for changes to legislation to restrict it.

"We are working in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council on experimental traffic orders on four roads, making it illegal for anyone to use a vehicle on them for recreational purposes.

"Off-roading is one of the most contentious recreational uses of the park and we have a constant postbag of concerns from visitors and members of the local communities about it.

"It causes significant damage to both habitats and landscape."