Motocross riders in demo

NEARLY 50 demonstrators, many of them teenagers, marched through Lewes on Thursday last week to call for a motocross site.

Accompanied by Lewes MP Norman Baker, they presented a petition containing nearly 2,000 signatures at the Lewes District Council offices in Southover Road.

The petition will be considered by the council in the near future, but it won't be easy to find a site. At present there is no legal facility in the whole of East Sussex for off road motor bikes.

Owen Clifford, community services manager, said: 'We will work with them to try to find a site, but there are no pieces of land that we own that might be suitable.

'It might be a question of finding them some funding for a facility.'

The problem is most of the land in the area is sensitive environmentally, under cultivation or close to homes which could lead to complaints of noise from the off-road motorbikes.

Trouble

The advent of a national park for the South Downs will not make the quest any easier.

But protest organiser Peggy Jackson from Newhaven, who has been campaigning for facilities for some time, is adamant that the search will go on.

'Kids get in trouble if they ride in areas not set aside for the sport,' she said. 'We have to travel out of the county at the moment if we want to ride legally.

'Anywhere in East Sussex would do for us. We shall continue fighting to get one. It's not as though there isn't any money in the sport. Riders pay up to 15 a time to ride and sometimes as many as 150 people turn up to take part.'

Lewes MP Norman Baker said: 'Clearly there is a need for a purpose-built location where they can follow their sport safely and without causing disturbance.

'The current situation is that, as there is currently no proper site, it is more likely that a nuisance will be caused.'

He said sites that might be considered could be port land away from homes, or disused quarries, but clearly there were few locations where motocross was possible.

Any landowner with a suitable site can contact Peggy on 01273 513794.