So it would appear that our optimism at meeting with the council was overplayed. Its 3 weeks since we met with them and despite their assurances in the meeting that they would 'come back with a response in a few days' we are yet to have a single update from them.

So once again we need your help!

They know we have a petition, they know we have support from both the equine community and local residents so lets use that to our advantage - You can help us by:

emailing the councillors and MPs directly to make your views felt. Their email addresses are:

• Cllr Dan Swords, Leader of the council: dan.swords@harlow.gov.uk
• Cllr Nicky Purse, Portfolio holder for sustainability and the environment: nicky.purse@harlow.gov.uk
• Cllr Stacy Seales, Portfolio holder for community: stacy.seales@harlow.gov.uk
• Cllr Nick Churchill, Sumners and Kingsmoor ward: nick.churchill@harlow.gov.uk
• Cllr Russell Perrin, Sumners and Kingsmoor ward: russell.perrin@harlow.gov.uk
• Cllr Cliver Souter, Sumners and Kingsmoor ward: clive.souter@harlow.gov.uk
• Robert Halfon MP for Harlow: halfon4harlow@roberthalfon.com
• Dame Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest: eleanor.laing.mp@parliament.uk

You can complain directly to Harlow Council by clicking on this link. This will not only benefit us, but also anyone else who has lost access as a result of these barriers. We've heard from dog walkers, families, people with limited mobility and others who are now unable to use this public space.

You can continue sharing and promoting our petition to encourage more signatures and demonstrate the size of support our cause has.... and if you know any local celebrities who might be interested in supporting our fight, please make them aware. We are a small group of riders who need every bit of help we can get

If you can afford to chip in a small amount of money, this really helps as it pays for change.org to promote our petition to other people who have created or signed petitions that are similar to ours.

If you have any contacts in local news outlets who might be interested in featuring our story, please let them know. We would love to be able to make these issues more widely known - We know its not just us that is losing hacking, its sadly happening across the country.

We've been putting it off and putting it off, but sadly the time has come where we will now have to ride on the road. Our ponies are not used to being on the roads, so we will need to work with them to desensitise them. This will involve slow, in hand walks along the roads nearest to us on a regular basis - We apologise in advance to anyone caught in the disruption this will cause. Its something we'd hoped to avoid but in the absence of any support from the council to provide an alternative, its now our only way to the nearest off road hacking.