Ref. 28302-57Attempts to drive motorists and bikers off the Ridgeway are one step closer to success after a meeting with a Government minister, South Swindon MP Julia Drown has claimed.

She said Labour's Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael and local council bosses had come to an agreement about banning motor vehicles from the historic route.

Under current laws, jeeps and trail bikes are allowed to use the path, which is officially classified as a highway the same as a road.

But it is set to change, according to Ms Drown, who was at the meeting.

She said: "We made real progress. There was a consensus from MPs of all parties and local authorities along the length of the Ridgeway that all motorised traffic needs to be moved off the paths.

"There is still a way to go before that happens, but we have taken another move forward and I'm confident we are getting there."

Ms Drown said the groups had agreed to work together to ensure only walkers would be able to use the paths in future.

And, because all the councils had promised to introduce the same restrictions, it would mean effective traffic regulations could be successfully introduced

Among the plans now being considered are steps to encourage farmers to rent land to off-roaders, she said, giving them an alternative to green lanes.

The meeting, which took place in Westminster on Wednesday, is one in a series of talks aimed at coming to a final settlement over the route.

Last month Wiltshire County Council passed a bylaw prohibiting the use of motorised vehicles on a 6km stretch of the Ridgeway on Smeathes Ridge, between Barbury Castle and Ogbourne St George.

Ian Ritchie, of the Friends Of The Ridgeway group, which was formed in 1982 to protect the trail said at the time: "The use of vehicles on the Ridgeway is an increasing problem and beautiful areas are ruined."

Those using 4x4s and motorbikes on the Ridgeway argue they have an historic legal right to use them.