MOVES to stop motorbikes, quad bikes and four-wheel drive jeeps damaging Wiltshire's famous Ridgeway national trail have been outlined by the Government.

Off-roaders are currently allowed to claim public access rights to the countryside under laws designed in the era of horse-drawn carts.

But these historic loopholes are set to close after the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs announced detailed plans to change the rules.

Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael outlined a three-pronged approached to tackling what campaigners have branded countryside louts, including: Better enforcement of existing powers; limited new access arrangements for powered vehicles, and an end to the use of horse-and-cart access ways by modern propelled vehicles.

He said new legislation would use the category of restricted byway introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

Mr Michael said: "The way we use our public rights of way has changed dramatically over the past 100 years.

"The use made of them today is often inconsistent with the uses for which they were originally established in many cases long before the internal combustion engine was invented.

"The process for acquiring rights for the use of modern vehicles has become inappropriate and unsustainable."

The minister, who has been lobbied by Wiltshire County Council chief over the flawed laws, said he understood why local conservationists were angry at the widespread countryside abuse.

Many claim off-roaders have

turned the Ridgeway into a sea of mud, ruining it for ramblers and cyclists.

Friends Of The Ridgeway chairman, Ian Ritchie, says the consultation paper is a positive move.

"The eastern side of the Ridgeway past the Thames Gap at Goring is vehicle-free and we want to see this on the western half from Avebury," he said.

"The problem of vehicles using trails like the Ridgeway is now being recognised nationally.

"We have a Code of Respect asking vehicle users not to cause damage by going on the trail in wet weather and to minimise damage but it is not working.

"It is not acceptable for 20 trail bikes and lines of 4x4s to use the trail together, which is what is happening."

But vehicle users claim a ban would be unjust. Paul Harrison, 43, from Marlborough, regularly rides his motorbike on the Ridgeway.

And he says he is prepared to defy any ban. He said: "I will respect the law as long as it is credible. In my view any ban would be unjust.

"Groups such as Friends Of The Ridgeway have hundreds of miles of countryside to walk on but they decide to use this area.

"I do not think Wiltshire Constabulary will put this high on their priority list."