Motorbikes and offroaders bring chaos to beauty spot

MOTORBIKES, quad bikes and offroading 4x4s have turned a quiet lane at a Derbyshire beauty spot into a chaotic hotbed of noise, nuisance and anti-social behaviour.

Brackley Gate and Moor Lane, which runs between Little Eaton and the hamlet of Brackley Gate, is an idyllic route much-loved by resident walkers, dog owners, cyclists and horse riders.

The narrow route runs through woodland and residents’ attachment to it has grown due to the pandemic and the benefit it has provided during lockdown.

However, their enjoyment of the route and their own homes and gardens has been reduced due to the persistent and increasingly detrimental and significantly damaging anti-social behaviour of motorbikes, quad bikes and 4x4s on the lane.

In the past two years, residents have recorded around 200 incidents involving these vehicles on 140 separate days, some which they allege were engaged in drug-dealing.

Now Erewash Borough Council is planning to install gates on either end of the lane, with other options, including CCTV, ruled out due to the burdens of enforcement and cost. The gates would cost up to £6,000, paid for by Morley Parish Council, with the borough council paying for repairs and maintenance.

It is also bringing in a public space protection order (PSPO) with a £100 fine for unauthorised vehicles and individuals causing anti-social behaviour.

Councillors on the authority’s executive – its leadership – are set to approve the plans at a meeting today. They will be deciding whether the gates should only be closed all the time or part-time – from noon on Fridays to 7am on Mondays. Council officers have recommended they are closed all the time.

Anti-social behaviour is said to date back to before 2016, with both Morley and Little Eaton Parish Councils receiving a “significant” amount of evidence and information, including photos, on those causing disturbance.

This includes 4x4s, motorbikes, scrambler bikes and quad bikes,

“either behaving antisocially on the lane by driving inconsiderately, revving engines inappropriately and doing spins on the lane, or accessing the private land either side from the lane to drive through the woodland”.

Other incidents included “alleged drug dealing or inappropriate activities in vehicles” and the use of air rifles being shot in the woods.

Between January and November 2019 residents, asked to keep a log of incidents to aid enforcement, recorded 61 incidents of anti-social behaviour over 55 separate days, largely over the weekend, in the daytime and at night.

Of these, 23 incidents involved 4x4s and 15 involved motorbikes.

In 2020 there were 121 incidents recorded by residents over 85 different days, mostly at the weekends.

Of these, 37 involved 4x4s driving antisocially on the lane and surrounding footpaths, 31 involved motorbikes and four involved quad bikes.

Alongside this there was further “alleged drug dealing, drug use or inappropriate activities in vehicles”, a spate of fly-tipping and “criminal damage” to walls and signs.