'Bike danger must stop!' (From Free Press Series)

'Bike danger must stop!'

RURAL Torfaen residents have demanded action from police to get tough on bikers who tear up the countryside and damage the environment.

Following a visit from Assembly Member Lynne Neagle and Minister for Environment Planning and Countryside Carwyn Jones, the residents are determined to stop the bikers in their tracks.

Noise and disturbance caused frayed tempers amongst residents and farmers in the mountain area which has attracted motorcyclists for some time.

The Residents Association and the Commoners will be joined by MP Paul Murphy at a meeting with the police and Torfaen council on October 1.

The group plans to give a presentation of the damage caused by motorcycles speeding across the mountainside.

Les Murphy secretary for the Commoners called for police to take stronger action.

He said: "I would like to see a regular police presence up here - in Caerphilly they sent a police motorbike to an area with a similar problem and they got about 20 results in one day."

Penyrheol Residents Association Secretary Val Bradford said: "What will it take for something to be done?

"The scramblers come up this tiny lane pulling wheelies on a blind corner just outside my house and I have a nine-year-old daughter."

Mr Murphy also expressed concern, he said: "It's not so long ago that one of these bikers went through a scout tent with a boy inside - it's not as if there has been no warning!"

Residents claim the problem is increasing with organised trips venturing up the mountain with four wheel drive vehicles, quad bikes and scramblers.

Mrs Bradford explained that ecological studies to assess the environmental cost reported that a number of ground-nesting birds such as Sky Larks and Grouse, which once thrived, have not been seen for about six years - since the bikes arrived.

Others claim that the erosion caused by tyres altered the watercourses and caused deep furrows in the soil scarring the mountainside.

Les Murphy hopes the meeting can put an end to the number of sheep deaths and injuries resulting from the bike activity.

He said: "We have been trying to stop it for so long we have taken down numbers of the vehicles, but I don't think anything has come of it."

Residents highlighted concerns that many of the bikes are unlicensed, but are possibly using roads to access the mountain, causing a potential danger on the highways.

A police spokesperson said: "Although no arrests have been made some people were stopped for document offences. The police have mounted operations in the past and they will be continuing to look at the problem in the future. The police will also be looking at going into schools at a future date and warning youngsters of the dangers involved."

He plans to ask police to use new legislative powers regarding access to the countryside to confiscate vehicles, if necessary.

Mr Murphy said: "We've done our bit, now it's time the police did their bit."