Years of campaigning by The British Horse Society finally
sees the great 'Goat Track' reopened
Campaigners will celebrate tomorrow (Saturday, February 5)
when The Goat Track at St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, officially
reopens after a wait of 10 years.
Erosion by surface water combined with the gradient of the
bridleway had caused a gully to form in the middle of the
path, making it unusable.
Work to reinstate the path has been completed by Cornwall
County Council's Countryside Service and included negotiation
with landowners regarding the discharge of septic tanks onto
the path, and the carrying out safety work.
Jane Combes, a member of The British Horse Society's Cornwall
County Committee, said: "The local riding community is
overjoyed at the wonderful reinstatement of the 'Goat Track'
after many years of campaigning, complaining and petitions.
"We are ecstatic that we finally have a 'Rolls Royce'
path. The transformation is amazing and we can't wait to use
it. We would like to invite as many people as possible to
the reopening event to help us celebrate this momentous occasion."
Hannah Cohen - The British Horse Society's Senior Executive,
Access - said: "The BHS welcomes all increases and improvements
to the safe off road riding network. This path has taken many
years of dedicated lobbying by the local BHS reps to ensure
that it is open to all who may use it.
"Thanks must go to all those who have been involved
in the arduous task of getting this bridleway reopened."
Tim Bird, Principal Ranger of the Cornwall Countryside Service,
said: "We are pleased to be able to greatly improve the
bridleway. The reason that we weren't able to do such improvements
until now was due to lack of available funding.
"The works cost around £40,000 and we had to find
the money first before work could commence. Without such funding
we would have had to close the bridleway indefinitely."
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