AQW 28911/17-22

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 28/01/2022
Answered On Date: 03/02/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any projects or trail development her Department has been involved in during the current mandate that facilitates and promotes non-competitive, leisurely horse-riding.

Answer:

My Department has no remit to promote and create trails that facilitate and promote non-competitive, leisurely horse-riding. Active travel is within my Department’s remit, the aim of which is to reduce the number of non-active journeys and so to deliver a modal shift from motorised transport. ‘Exercise – Explore – Enjoy: a Strategic Plan for Greenways’ was published by my Department in November 2016. The strategy has a particular focus on active travel and provides a framework to assist Councils and other bodies to develop their own local schemes as part of a greenway network for the entire region. As equestrian activity is not generally considered to be active travel, it was not included in the Strategic Plan.

In respect of the small number of greenways within its ownership, my Department has taken the approach that horses should not be permitted on greenways due to the size and unpredictability of such large animals.

During this mandate I have provided Councils with capital funding to assist them in the development of their greenway projects on the basis that they contribute to delivering active travel. I am not aware that any of the projects funded have the additional aim of facilitating and promoting non-competitive, leisurely horse-riding. As greenway development forward is taken, it will be the responsibility of each Council to decide whether horses should be permitted on its greenways.