EFFORTS are being made to put a stop to the growing problem of illegal off-road motorcycling.

Dorset Local Access Forum will meet later this month to discuss the possibility of implementing a national action plan to provide legal sites and stronger police enforcement on illegal motorcycling activities.

Concerns have been raised about illegal motorcycling in quarries, on heathland and using public rights of way for scrambling.

The main hot spots in the county include Canford Heath and Upton Heath. There have also been intermittent problems on Cranborne Chase.

Dorset County Council, together with officials from Bournemouth and Poole borough councils, is trying to form a policy on off-road vehicle use to establish the good and bad areas for the activity.

Fears that illegal off-road motorcycling is on the increase were aired at the recent national Auto Cycling Union conference.

The union states that 8,000 new off-road machines were sold last year and the figure is likely to rise again this year.

The warning from the ACU is that in four to five years time these machines will be available on the second hand market fuelling the growing illegal use of off-road sites.

Such a rise could have a detrimental affect on top conservation sites and cause noise disturbance near to residential areas.

Rod Webb, senior countryside access officer for Dorset County Council, said: "It has been an ongoing problem on areas of heathland and is a particular problem to local people. They are the people who are affected by the noise created from the illegal activity."

Chief Inspector Rick Dowell, head of operations and tackling group, said: "We do take complaints of illegal motor cycling very seriously as often there is potential danger to people walking across heathland. However we must concentrate our resources on tackling road safety and contributing towards force priorities."

The Dorset Local Access Forum will meet on September 24.

First published: September 23