vanHorck; you'll find that most English councils are comprised of idiotic, self-important, disconnected cretins. That, I'm afraid, is a simple fact of life. People with the skills to discharge such a role with any kind of competency are off earning good money elsewhere. Those same people are unfortunately usually also totally apathetic to the idiots who sit on local councils and their crackpot policies..... until their pet hobby starts getting undue attention.
I've been into Bagby a few times. If noone had told me about the runway matting I never would have known. You can't see it, although you can sure as hell tell when you taxi onto an unmatted section (ie. down the bottom of the hill) during wet periods!