Lancashire County Council’s Countryside Service, together with the local group of GLASS members, organised a volunteer working day recently to repair the damage and put barriers in place to discourage further incidents, following reports of damage to ‘Boggy Wood’ by illegal off-roaders.
In total there were about 25 vehicles and 40 people, many of whom had not met before. As well as GLASS members there were members of the Red Rose Land Rover Club and individuals who had found out about it through a report in the local paper and the forums.
After a day of digging, raking, sawing, hammering, carrying and dragging the full area covered by the damage had been levelled out by hand, barriers built with fallen tree trunks and branches, posts installed, holes in the lane filled in and compacted and some large boulders placed adjacent to the ford. It is estimated that the amount of work done was the equivalent of about eight man-weeks and the diverse range of skills employed could not have been covered by a single individual.
The County Council’s Principal Public Rights of Way Officer said: “I was amazed at the enthusiasm, hard work and goodwill of them all. By the time we left they had done all the work that I had planned and quite a lot more. It looks fantastic – it is unrecognisable from the mess we were faced with at the start of the day. We are very grateful to the volunteers who worked so hard, the Green Lane Association area representative, Paul de Borde, who helped organise it and to the Courier paper for raising the profile.”
