driving on private land

[apusmelba]

any one know what the best way to try to deal with an land owner who has a couple of acres of land about fifty metres from my house which until recently was used for grazing horses.about 2 months ago the horses went and stories of applications for planning permission for housing circulated.the owner then gave permission for a relative to supervise his youngster to ride a motorbike on the land and this has now ended up with two bikes circulating for most of sunday afternoon which can be heard inside my house.
the landowner dosnt live in the area so what can be done do i just put up with it however i fear that it will escalate and blight my use of my own property

[slightlymiffed]

Buy yourself a bike and go join em ?

Sorry.. probably not what you wanted.

[apusmelba]

right ive ordered my bike and id like to come and ride round your land any reason why not apart from not having any/having to ask matron?

[slightlymiffed]

apusmelba said:

right ive ordered my bike and id like to come and ride round your land any reason why not apart from not having any/having to ask matron?

If I had any land, you would be more than welcome to come race around on it... matron or not!

You didn't say it was *your* land though... ?

[gh0st]

slightlymiffed said:

apusmelba said: right ive ordered my bike and id like to come and ride round your land any reason why not apart from not having any/having to ask matron? If I had any land, you would be more than welcome to come race around on it... matron or not! You didn't say it was *your* land though... ?

ZING!

[john_p]

Obviously the first step is to speak to the landowner (or whoever controls the land) and mention the noise; you never know, they might be reasonable. Ask them to keep it to an hour a day or something.

Failing that then you could complain to the Environmental Health / Noise Pollution dept. of your local council who will probably monitor it and action on your behalf, but in the interests of good neighbouring, try the polite method first

With winter coming in, you'll probably find quite soon the field isn't too fun to bike around in..

>> Edited by john_p on Sunday 12th September 19:09

[apusmelba]

thanks for the input and i do realise that im turning into victor meldrew

i had a polite conversation with the motorbike bloke the first time it happened and established he had the owners permission and was told it would be occasional use by his lad on a small motorbike
today it was two bikes both scrambler type continuously circulating at maybe 20mph watched by approx 10 spectators in 5 vehicles for 3 hours
i realise that the owner is able to use his land as he sees fit and i have a petrol lawnmower which i drive round my garden for up to half an hour per week
which some neighbour could find intrusive but if i drove my mower for several hours would this be a nuisance and would the local authority want to get involved
i agree that the useage is likely to stop over the winter
my thoughts are that i should not be a killjoy as my first respondent so succinctly indicated but that the useage could escalate and if im the only property within earshot i either put up or shut up
i remember about 15 years ago being woken at 7am on a sunday morning by the motorcycle bloke as a teenager driving a citroen visa which he and his mates had removed the exhaust and manifold from
i turned into the incredible hulk as i got up and went to ask them to turn it off but ended up offering to let them use my garage to fix the exhaust
i didnt have a problem with a car driving round after the exhaust was fixed but i dont know why i find the sound of the bikes so intrusive perhaps its the relentless repetition of the circuits
perhaps i should go out when they do it

[kevinday]

Just a thought, if spectators are gathering does the owner have permission to hold motorbike meetings? Maybe use of the land is restricted to agricultural use? Pop into your local council and look up the plot concerned and see what is allowed. Also you could talk to the actual owner, he may be unaware of the goings on.

[The Saint]

The landowner would need adequate public liability insurance aswell?

[mechsympathy]

And I think it will help your case (if it goes that far) if you keep a diary of events.

[apusmelba]

good points to think about

the issue of motorcycle meetings dosn't apply does it as it is an informal arrangement with the owners
permission and not open to the public

i don't think public liability insurance is compulsory in this case but if an injury or damage occurred the owner could have difficulties without it

i have a record of instances but i don't want to do anything on a formal basis because if i write to the authorities about this i will be duty bound to disclose this if i sell my house as it is a question that is asked in the standard enquiries of conveyance

this may seem selfish but i have recently had an offer withdrawn because the potential purchaser was put off by the use of the land to dump several cars

i have withdrawn my house from sale because i am not happy to have to explain the matter to prospective buyers
i offered to pay for removal of the cars but the owner wasnt interested and said they would go when he "got round to it"

the access to the land is up a "rupp" which i drive
up to access my drive and i think the rules on these
rural unmade public paths are going to change but as yet i am not sure how and when

its a sort of catch 22

[Pigeon]

apusmelba said:

i have recently had an offer withdrawn because the potential purchaser was put off by the use of the land to dump several cars

He was a silly bugger then. A field out the back where there is a selection of discarded machinery to extract useful parts from and/or rebuild in a more "creative" style? Wouldn't have put me off - far from it!