Motocross banned from Herefordshire farm

The owner of one of only two working motocross circuits in the Herefordshire area has been told he cannot continue to use it for racing or practising without first applying for planning permission.

Richard Hyett, owner of Riley Hill Farm, Cradley, and secretary of Cotswold Youth and Adult Motocross Club, said: “Now even my own son can’t use it.”

James Hyett, one of several successful riders brought on by the club, became UK champion in his class aged just 9, and later represented the UK at the Junior Motocross World Championship.

Until now, permitted development (PD) rights, which entitle property owners to a range of activities without planning permission, enabled the Hyetts to use the track for 14 days a year.

So-called article 4 directions allow local authorities to suspend such rights within specific areas, though they are more typically used to preserve urban areas from unwelcome development.

Councils must report all such directions to the government, which can rescind them if it chooses. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the Riley Hill Farm direction was “under consideration”.

The farm, near the Worcestershire border, was previously within the area administered by Malvern Hills District Council. “They tested us and had no issues with noise,” Hyett said. “We planned to put in noise barriers anyway.”

He believes the ban, which came into effect on August 16, has arisen from complaints by a new neighbour.

Hyett was told that the council had then inspected the site and taken issue with the noise, though he has no evidence of this having taken place.

Without properly managed race premises, the sport will simply go underground, he added.

“We do everything properly – we are insured, we provide medical care and emergency vehicles. People with nowhere else to ride will end up just using fields or common land.”

The wholesale use of such directions to control off-road motorsports events was among proposals published by Herefordshire Council earlier this year in the wake of its climate emergency declaration.

However the council rejected this as impracticable, given the “strong justified reasons required for withdrawing PD rights relating to a wide area, such as the entire county”.

Herefordshire Council did not respond when asked what the basis was for the article 4 direction on the farm, or whether it wanted motocross racing to continue in the county.