Each year we welcome thousands of visitors to our land to enjoy the natural beauty and admire the spectacular landscapes and wildlife.
We’ve had open access agreements on most of our upland moorlands long before the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000 opened up areas. 62% of our land (35580 hectares) is designated as open access or registered common land under CRoW.
Turton to Entwistle bridleway link
Forming part of the West Pennine Moors (WPM) perimeter route, this 600 metre bridleway is a combination of new and upgraded rights of way. It is constructed to national trail standards as the grass/gravel surface features self-closing bridle gates with easy-use latches. A number of gate and stile arrangements on un-grazed sections have been replaced with quarry boulders to enable easier access for all users and restrict vehicle access.
As the landowner, we negotiated the link with our tenant farmer, a feature of which is a 70 metre section with no previous rights. Although short in length, this piece bypasses a particularly dangerous road junction / crossing, along an existing, popular walking route through the Bradshaw Valley. The multi-use link connects with two popular car parks at Entwistle.
Car Parks
We have a five-year plan to roll out pay and display parking across the West Pennine Moors estate and areas within the South Pennines. During 2008/09 we commissioned two more pay and display accent machines at Anglezarke Reservoir and Clowbridge Reservoir. Current income from the six existing machines stands at around £30k. The income from the machines is used to maintain site facilities.
We intend to continue to roll out pay and display parking at Roddlesworth and Hurstwood car parks this summer.