More land please to stop illegal riding
March 17, 2008
A MOTOCROSS promoter is calling for action to prevent the sport from being killed off by ever stricter rules.
Lawson Benjamin, who runs the MX shop on The Plain in Thornbury, is warning of an increase in illicit motorcycle riding on wasteland and other sites unless councils take steps to identify land where riders can practice the sport legally.
Mr Benjamin, whose three teenage sons are all established Motocross riders, issued the plea following a recent Gazette story about underage riders setting up a dirt track on part of the Western Approaches Business Park at Severn Beach.
"Sadly, this sort of thing is going to be happening more and more in the future unless the authorities open their eyes to the problem and start finding sites where people can practice off road riding properly and legally," said Mr Benjamin who runs a firm, LA Sporting Ltd, to promote and run Motocross practice tracks."We all know that motor sports can generate noise but people can be oversensitive.
"It seems that noise created by other sports and by other events such as car boot sales is okay but motor sport is not."
Sites were becoming harder to find and established sites were being restricted at a time when Motocross was growing in popularity, said Mr Benjamin.
"More and more venues are being lost, leading to greater problems of illegal riding and even street crime," he added.
Mr Benjamin is now urging local authorities to look across the Severn to Cardiff where the council has joined forces with an off road promoter to create a dockland site for Motocross activities.
"We need a similar approach here in the South Gloucestershire," he said.
"We need a dedicated, permanent area that can be run properly with the correct insurance under the guidelines of the main motor sport bodies.
"The ideal locations are by naturally noisy environments like motorways, railways, busy industrial areas old tips and areas surrounded by woodland with no dwellings close by."
Mr Benjamin is on the lookout for land to lease and is inviting landowners and farmers to contact him at .
Send this article to a friend
Page 1 of 1 pages
