Sparks have been flying between dog walkers and bikers over the land in the woodland near North Walsham for some time.

Bikers say they should be allowed to use the area due to a lack of designated trails, and have criticised dog walkers for leaving mess.

But the pet owners claim the bikers are damaging the beauty spot by digging out pits to make jumps and obstacles, as well as rushing past them at dangerous speeds.

Some of the bikers on their track at Bacton Wood. (Image: Denise Bradley)

The row has seen dog walkers use their own shovels to hit back against the bikers by knocking down their jumps.

Now rangers from Forestry England have officially forced an end to the feud by using their own shovels to flatten the unauthorised jumps once and for all.

And the organisation says it cannot support the pleas of the mountain bikers to transform the area into an official mountain biking trail as Bacton Wood is “remotely managed”.

Parent-led clean-up effort

Sammy Chandler, whose son enjoys spending time in the park, recently rallied together a group of ten bikers to help make the forest safer.

The boys, aged between 12 and 16, spent the weekend filling holes, flattening jumps and moving logs off the trail to help meet Forestry England’s safety standards.

Mrs Chandler’s father, Mike Chandler, also crunched numbers to determine what percentage of the sprawling wood the mountain bikers’ area actually takes up.

A marked map of the “tiny” 2.2pc area where the mountain bikers frequent (Image: Mike Chandler/Bradfield Bespoke)

According to Mr Chandler, the area frequented by mountain bikers takes up 2.2pc of the more than 280-acre beauty spot.

Speaking about the clean-up effort, Mrs Chandler said: “There were no dangerous jumps built – if anything, there were some that were quite large that we evened off and made smaller.

“We imagined that if a three-year-old was on a little balance bike and wanted to ride around, what could we do to make the whole thing completely safe?

One of the bikers enjoying their track at Bacton Wood. (Image: Denise Bradley)

“It took us all day. The kids got so stuck in.

“If anything, we almost completed that day with Forestry England completely in mind.”

She also claims that dog walkers who “have nothing better to do” were lurking behind trees and watching from afar while the clean-up effort took place.

A general view of Bacton Wood. (Image: Denise Bradley)

“I almost wanted to go over, but I didn’t want to have an argument,” Mrs Chandler said. “I simply want to make it a safe place for the kids and everyone to enjoy.

“It’s almost so cowardly of the dog walkers. If they had come over, I would’ve said we’re not digging any more jumps.

“We’re making it less fun for the kids, if anything.”

Some of the jumps at Bacton Wood, which have since been removed (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Dog walker destruction

Not even 24 hours later, shovel-wielding dog walkers travelled to the woods under the cover of darkness to destroy jumps that bikers had worked hard to make safe earlier in the day.

The damage caused to one of the jumps by the dogwalkers (Image: Sammy Chandler)

Mrs Chandler said: “They pulled logs out and chucked them everywhere.”

A spokesman from Forestry England confirmed rangers travelled to the site soon after and officially removed the jumps and filled in the pits – forcing an end to the so-called Battle of Bacton Wood.

One of the bikers enjoying their track at Bacton Wood. (Image: Denise Bradley)

Remotely managed from 55 miles away

Mrs Chandler sent an email to Forestry England outlining her issues with the removal of jumps and to campaign for the creation of a “designated biking area”.

But in its reply to her, the organisation stressed that Bacton Wood is managed by remote workers based more than 55 miles away at its headquarters in Santon Downham, near Brandon.

It explained that this was one of the main reasons why the jumps were removed.

The Forestry England HQ in Santon Downham, which is 55.5 miles away from Bacton Wood (Image: Google Maps)

The email states that Forestry England does not have “a regular staff presence at Bacton Wood” or “the time or resources to adequately manage the unauthorised cycle features that have been built there”.

This includes “dealing with any health and safety issues that may potentially arise”.

Keeping the jumps in place would mean rangers routinely travelling 55.5 miles from Suffolk just to check if they are safe.

It added if “site resources change considerably” then perhaps a “discussion regarding the creation of a more official [mountain bike trail]” could be had.