Over 90 separate Welsh cycling organisations have today co-signed a letter to Welsh Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and ...
By chipps
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That'a pretty strongly worded letter. Pulls no punches
Indeed. But sometimes politicians need to hear this to realise that all is not well in a Government organisation.
Thank you for running this story Singletrack! As a local to these centres, our MTB journey started there and has developed enormously thanks to them. Anyone who has visited Coed Y Brenin or Bwlch Nant Yr Arian or Ynyslas (not MTB) please sign the petition to help put pressure on the Welsh Government. They will be debating it on 16th September.
Also, make noise on your socials about the threatened closures, share the petition, share your memories of the trail centres, and keep visiting them to show continued support!
The petition seems to be closed now....
"Closed for new signatures
A decision on whether to refer or reject this petition will be made shortly - petitions that collect more than 250 signatures are discussed by the Petitions Committee".
Great letter. If it falls on deaf ears, the next step is building a dirt jump at the senedd or nrw head office!
Why is this described as a letter from the Welsh cycling industry? All the named individuals are merely quango jockeys. None of the business listed are involved in the manufacture of bicycles or bicycle parts. This is a bunfight amongst 3rd sector grifters.
Why is this described as a letter from the Welsh cycling industry? All the named individuals are merely quango jockeys. None of the business listed are involved in the manufacture of bicycles or bicycle parts. This is a bunfight amongst 3rd sector grifters.
Did you bother to read to the end? There are nearly 100 more signatures to this letter with well over half being from companies directly working in the cycling industry in one form or another…..it’s not a requirement to be involved in the manufacture of bike’s & components to be a part of the cycling industry. Jesus…..
I hope it makes a difference, but...how will this all be paid for? If this is saved then something somewhere else will suffer.
Any thoughts on how to generate more money from bikers without making it obvious they are trying to be fleeced?
Aware this isn't a massively positive post, but I'm really not wanting to see anything gets closed, but without a plan to pay for on-going costs and development, I'm struggling to see what can be done.
Well it would be a sensible start to enable more volunteer work to go ahead rather than drown it in red tape...
Living in Wales, albeit a couple of hours drive from NyA and further still from CyB I have a strong interest in this. Other posts have expressed well what a disaster has been happening. Penmachno is in my mind a portent of what is to come for NyA and CyB although being less reliant on woodwork it might not be quite so bad. However, see White's Level in Afan. Goodwood was shut for maintenance and afaik, never reopened. Hopefully I am wrong.
The lack of responses on this thread is indicative of the lack of interest in the places. They need to change to attract more and new riders. I toyed with the idea of an uplift service at CyB once, I still think it could possibly work. Not so sure about NyA though. A friend tried to run the uplift at Afan bitd but the Forestry Commission/ EA, NRW put so many barriers and conditions in the way, as well as requiring hugely expensive insurance it wasn't even vaguely viable.
Again, at Brechfa I know if two failed cafe vans. Both had great food. But again, I believe that both had to really battle with NRW and in the end it just wasn't worth it to continue.
Yet bizarrely, Cwmyrhaedr has never had any extra facilities beyond a car park, using the middle of nowhere with only a short trail and seems to be busy.
CyB will wither purely and simply for the same reason it was built there in the first place. It's a long way away from most population centres and in a not very popular location.
CyB will wither purely and simply for the same reason it was built there in the first place. It’s a long way away from most population centres and in a not very popular location.
CyB used to be wildly popular! Llandegla still is really popular, you get there at 11am on a Sunday, there's nowhere to park. On the other hand, last time I went to CyB last year, I thought I'd arrived on set of a zombie movie, there was no-one in the car park!
So what's changed at CyB...?!
Is everyone off gravel riding instead? Is it really too far? Or has the lack of maintenance and general careless attitude about the place from those who are supposed to be managing it driven people away...?
Genuine question, I don't know the answers.
Great letter. If it falls on deaf ears, the next step is building a dirt jump at the senedd or nrw head office!
Build a latrine across the entrance too, to emphasise the loss of the toilets and the resulting need for visitors to crap in the open.
60km of gravel routes were added to CyB last Easter.
Further, the massively popular Traws Eryri passes through and uses it as a hub, surely it's raison d'aitre. It offers a café, wash facilities, WC, shop, e bike charging, route finding, loads of alternative biking as well as walking trails.
Come on people, pipe up. If you have ever had a good time in any of the Welsh trail centres please offer your support.
You don't know what you have got until it's gone.
They are described in the letter as "Outdoor sector businesses" so yes I did read the letter to the end. That's not the cycling industry because as far as I am aware there is no cycling industry in Wales, just tourist adjacent leisure businesses who seem to be looking for some sort of "investment" from the public purse.
Thanks for sharing @chipps
Presenting an argument for ‘what should be done’ will hopefully lead to steps in that direction. Rather than the stepping back from the great trail centres Wales has given us.
there is no cycling industry in Wales
There’s Atherton Bikes at the least. Plus I believe there are still bike shops in Wales. Both are ‘cycling industry’ things even if folks are disputing, unfairly, other types of organisation.
Come on people, pipe up. If you have ever had a good time in any of the Welsh trail centres please offer your support.
You don’t know what you have got until it’s gone.
I've had a good time pretty much every time I've been to one. (Penmachno in the wet the notable exception).
People who can't enjoy them are either so good at bike riding they should probably dedicate their weekends to racing; or so bad they should try gardening.
The only downsides I've ever encountered are due to trail closures/diversions - which would improve with time and labour investment obviously.
I'm a long way away though (2 hours to cwm carn, proably 6 to CyB) how do I best offer support?
Looks like a very well deserved kicking for NRW.
Fingers crossed the powers that be actually take notice.
That all seems a bit unfair. How are you defining “cycling industry”?
Bike shops, guides, trail centres, coaches, holiday providers, etc... That’s a cycling industry, as much as a bunch of lovies, scriptwriters and camera operators are part of a film industry. Wales has both by the way.
I really don’t see this just as the tourist businesses asking for public money. The letter sets out a much greater view for partnerships between NRW and interested parties. Of course, any economic benefits, especially local, are to be welcomed.
From my perspective - a rider living in S. Wales - I’m very happy with the letter. Kudos goes to those that did the spade work (excuse the pun) to present a unified response to the threatened closures.
The gofundme page that is linked to the UK MTB Trail Alliance website is about 2K short of an initial target of 10K to cover their year 1 costs. Just saying…
I’ll leave a link here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-to-protect-your-trails/donate?source=btn_donations_message
For transparency, I’m not involved (yet!)
usually visit CyB 4 or 5 times a year, cafe is always shut early and hardly ever pay for Car park its like they aren't trying to generate money
It’s a long way away from most population centres and in a not very popular location.
It's not really, It's a couple of hours from Manchester and Birmingham, and besides most 'adventure' landscapes in the UK are the same, they're all in remote places, that's kinda the point. As to why it's not popular, I'd be guessing but I reckon Uplift parks are fulfilling the needs of lots of folks, who'd otherwise be the customer for these places. Antur Stiniog, Dyfi, even BPW (although it's a way away) are all just as available just as easy to get to, and aren't nearly as much work to get your smiles, and as these places get less and less development, they're just not keeping up with what folks want. - and I don't think they want 30km of worn out trails with under a 1000m of descending for all the effort when you can do three or four times that at any uplift park.
I really don’t see this just as the tourist businesses asking for public money.
It's not, it's much more asking for some heads to be knocked together at NRW and get the "free" stuff working better.
e.g. volunteer work, wild trails etc.
And for community groups to be given a fair go at taking over the sites marked for closure, which would probably be the best and most-sustainable solution considering these sites are not gonna suddenly become money spinners again.
I try to get there at least once or twice a year, mostly winter as it's nice to have the changing facilities ay the end of winter ride and while I never seem to pick a day when the ticket machine is out of order, I don't mind paying and always try to spend something in the bike shop, even if it's just a pair of socks or gloves or trail snacks. The café is always a bit of let down though. Folk there are lovely but the food is uninspiring.
last time I went to CyB last year, I thought I’d arrived on set of a zombie movie, there was no-one in the car park!
So what’s changed at CyB…?!
3 things have changed to affect CyB. Though weirdly enough, none of them are actually changes by/at CyB.
Transport costs have risen hugely. Personally I'm not impacted by it, but I recall people saying a year or two ago that they just didn't want to drive as far. CyB IS a hell of a long way from pop centres. Especially compared to ' degla for example
Continuing the point above, there are now far more other places to MTB that are closer to pop centres, so there is no need to drive all that way any more. Quarter of a century ago Llandegla trails didn't exist, Winn Hill was just for ramblears, Macc Forest was just a dull Bridleway route. Now there is so much more choice from the north of England
Trail building/ info has moved on. Doing the Red bull dabless was a big deal for me 25 years ago. The rocky gnadgery stuff was great at the time. But nowadays, with modern bikes it just isn't one thing nor another. If I want gnadgery tech ( that still feels difficult on a big bike) then I use the internet to plan a lakes trip of go to the 'gorms. If you want jumpy flow, which most people seem to these days, then there's loads of better places. The CyB trails are neither one thing not the other.
Don't get me wrong, I loved CyB and had many brilliant days there, but last time I rode Red Bull I realised that objectively speaking it was just..... a bit shit. Sorry, but it was. MBR has stood the test of time much better, and The Beast is still brilliant at what it is. But there's far fewer people interested in what The Beast is these days.
For me, the issues started when NRW was formed, which merged the Welsh forestry commission, EA Wales and CCW. All of a sudden one body was responsible for environmental regulation, but also the running and maintenance of land, forests and associated leisure infrastructure. All of these new responsibities from one budget. Statutory responsibility will always take precedent, leaving little budget left.
Leisure infrastructure should be managed by a dedicated organisation, with a defined budget and focus. I'm not saying the English model is perfect, but it allows the EA to focus on regulation only.
@thegeneralist - I agree. Places like CyB haven't evolved, which is the product of no budget, focus or vision from the overseeing organisation.
Bonni and teenrat +100
That’s not the cycling industry because as far as I am aware there is no cycling industry in Wales, just tourist adjacent leisure businesses who seem to be looking for some sort of “investment” from the public purse.
And why wouldn't they look for investment? Add bike shops in the area to the list too. Wales is a great place to go with a bike so all power to them in fighting the closures. There's no bike manufacturing in Wales apart from Frog who assemble bikes, but 'let's rubbish any alignment from riders up to representatives because there's no factories making bikes' seems like a 'with friends like these..' argument, semantics of what constitutes a cycling industry aside (note 'Cycling' not 'cycle').
Don’t get me wrong, I loved CyB and had many brilliant days there, but last time I rode Red Bull I realised that objectively speaking it was just….. a bit shit. Sorry, but it was.
I'll admit that I actually thought the same on that one!
Which I'd see as a case for MORE investment and more engagement with the volunteer trail builders, not less.
Trail building/ info has moved on. Doing the Red bull dabless was a big deal for me 25 years ago. The rocky gnadgery stuff was great at the time. But nowadays, with modern bikes it just isn’t one thing nor another.
It's not about you though, with respect. We need more people coming into riding and TCs are a way to do that. So I don't care if the TCs aren't for me or you anymore, they're for others. Wanting more tech trails to suit bigger bikes is pulling the drawbridge up if the older trails don't stay there for others.
(fwiw I still love those trails but I've also got a trail/XC bike that feels great on them)
I still LOVE a bit of Afan for example but very very rarely get to head there, usually only on Xmas eve. I'm more likely to be found at Antur, BPW and Dyfi (way more at this one). I don't know the answer though on how to get people out onto more stuff. Next time the boy is at Dyfi i'm going to ride ClimachX as a day out instead as i much prefer that sort of riding myself.
It’s not about you though, with respect. We need more people coming into riding and TCs are a way to do that. So I don’t care if the TCs aren’t for me or you anymore, they’re for others. Wanting more tech trails to suit bigger bikes is pulling the drawbridge up if the older trails don’t stay there for others.
(fwiw I still love those trails but I’ve also got a trail/XC bike that feels great on them)
I know categorisation of bikes gets some rightful derision, but think it is key here. I'm guessing a 180 travel enduro tank is not fun on these trails/more fun can be had elsehere for similar time and money commitment.
But that assumes everyone has, or aspires to, a big enduro (or E-enduro) as the pinnacle of MTBing.
You can spend just as much money, and get just as much technology and niceness, on an epic evo, tallboy etc as you can on an enduro or megatower. And similarly, the more budget friendly equivilents are going to be on par with each other.
Yes, they will do eachother's jobs but certainly not as well. Getting people on the bike that suits their riding must be the only thing left for the bike industry to do at this point as non-electric development seems to have stalled in recent years.
CyB is pretty techy for a TC and I reckon it will get more attention again with the rise of eebs, making it less of a chore to pedal round.
It's very weather proof as well. Brilliant in the wet.
It’s not about you though, with respect. We need more people coming into riding and TCs are a way to do that. So I don’t care if the TCs aren’t for me or you anymore, they’re for others. Wanting more tech trails to suit bigger bikes is pulling the drawbridge up if the older trails don’t stay there for others.
+1.
This is where the Sportive "industry" shot itself in the foot, as organisers competed with each other to come up with the hardest, the toughest, the hilliest, the longest Sportive around.
And then wondered why only 60 people signed up to it.
All the welcoming "hey, come and ride on some roads/trails you wouldn't normally do, with a load of support and camaraderie and we'll all have a great time" had disappeared in the quest for ever more ridiculous levels of gnarr.
A good TC should have a mix of everything. Yes, you might think the Green trail is so tame you could ride it on a road bike but Casual Family Robinson on the ropey kids bikes and the cheap hire bike NEED that kind of trail. It can't all be Super Double Black Gnar.
the quest for ever more ridiculous levels of gnarr.
the hardest, the toughest, the hilliest, the longest Sportive around.
Bloke biased world and it usually goes that way. At the same time, "Why is MTB a niche thing, why's it not more popular?" "why's gravel so big?" or "why are gravel bikes the only bikes that are growing in sales recently?*"
There's a whole load of people riding bikes and getting into bikes and they just aren't interested in roadie watts or MTB sends. Just riding a bike is a great thing.
*true for the UK at least
Save the blue runs and the forest trails. And the reds.
It's a shame to see these places die, but, CYB, NyA & Afan are really no different to Glentress or FOD - but crucially none of them have had any level of investment since their original development.
Yes fashions change - but a good trail is still a good trail.
I hope the letter makes the powers that be take some notice. It would be a crying shame to lose these facilities but something needs to change with regards how they're run.
Using Llandegla as an example, I guess the key difference is that it's privately owned as opposed to a public space managed by NRW. I don't particularly like the trails there but as a day out/experience it's pretty good owing to the decent cafe being a nice place to hang out post ride. Places like C-y-B could surely get somewhere close if some notice is taken of the points raised in the letter.
The Llandegla comparison is an interesting one. It's hugely popular with families, and essentially it offer pretty much the same things, a café, toilets, a bike shop, but it gets trail maintenance and updated pretty regularly, the food is good, and the bike shop is pretty nice, and it's rammed every time I go there.
My formative biking years were spent in Welsh TC’s. Losing them would be a travesty!
As someone who rides with my family at both I'm not sure I'd notice if the visitor centres were closed anyway. At NyA the opening hours are hopeless when I've been recently, on a Sunday it didn't open until 11 and shut at 3:30. Not hugely helpful timings, we did make it back around 2:45 and by the time we went to try and get food, it had all gone but for some tired looking cakes. CyB has been open but the food is still generally depleted by the time you get back from a ride and not that inspiring anyway.
The trails at CyB are not that great for us, the blues are good but the transition up to the reds is significant (certainly for any distance of riding), the rocky tech is intimidating and lots of the reds have tougher sections on. I know it well enough to do mix and match routes to get round that but that misses the point of a trail centre really. NyA is much better for the routes but does have the revolting arse of a climb up on the red.
As riding destinations for beginners they're reasonable but no better than many other options much nearer to most people, for intermediates they're both flawed and for good riders they don't really offer enough anymore, all that with fairly naff visitor facilities and broken parking machines. It's not an attractive sell on either so I can see why they are at risk. Overall I'd probably miss them if they went but only for having a wazz.
The issue with the engagement with the 3rd sector organisations is really simple though. NRW cannot do that yet whilst redundancy consultation is in progress. It would be seen as pre-judging the outcome and any union representative worth their salt would wipe the floor with them if they did it. I very much doubt that NRW would not want to keep the sites open as they have parking assets they would lose and they can take commercial rent if someone else uses the cafe facilities. They know there is CIC type interest if they choose to close them but that would have to be done post consultation outcome. None of that detracts from NRW being dysfunctional but any changes necessary to resolve that are years in the pipeline so aren't going to impact this process.
+1.
This is where the Sportive “industry” shot itself in the foot, as organisers competed with each other to come up with the hardest, the toughest, the hilliest, the longest Sportive around.
And then wondered why only 60 people signed up to it.
All the welcoming “hey, come and ride on some roads/trails you wouldn’t normally do, with a load of support and camaraderie and we’ll all have a great time” had disappeared in the quest for ever more ridiculous levels of gnarr.
A good TC should have a mix of everything. Yes, you might think the Green trail is so tame you could ride it on a road bike but Casual Family Robinson on the ropey kids bikes and the cheap hire bike NEED that kind of trail. It can’t all be Super Double Black Gnar.
I think this goes for Enduro too...
Yes fashions change – but a good trail is still a good trail.
What does this even mean. Are you just staying the obvious or do you mean " a good trail remains a good trail even as time passes by"?
If so then it's patently obviously bollocks, because the bar for good trail rises hugely as time goes on..
Or if you would prefer, it may still be good, but the number of very good trails grows, then we have amazing trails and superb trails. So compared to the others it's actually a bit mince
However you try to express it, a trail that was rightly deemed one of the best in the country when it was built 25 years ago is quite clearly no longer in that league.
The Llandegla comparison is an interesting one. It’s hugely popular with families, and essentially it offer pretty much the same things, a café, toilets, a bike shop, but it gets trail maintenance and updated pretty regularly, the food is good, and the bike shop is pretty nice, and it’s rammed every time I go there.
Agree on all points, but none of those things is the main reason it is popular. The reason it is popular is that it is so close the some major cities.
It’s a fair point about shops / distributors and manufacturers not being consulted about the letter. Whilst not directly affected, i’m sure manufacturers would be concerned about the health of trails.
However, i disagree that 3rd sector organisations are looking for a handout. What is being requested is for investment in public infrastructure for health and recreation which anyone can use. Who isn’t interested in that? Especially when the cost of continuing trail provision (by maintenance of existing routes, tender the cafe and shop, employ a local ranger/small team for day to day management) is relatively low when spread across a large population/ from NRW or general taxation.
Anyone who thinks maintaining leisure access from public money is a wasteful, needs to wake up and apologise.
Problem is that it comes from a different, and future, budget....
So they ain't going to give leisure and rec more money now to save money in health later on.
Crazy, but...
I recently had a week and a half on holiday in Wales. On the Wednesday we drove down to South Wales and on the way stopped at the Forest of Dean. It was busy. There was a decent choice of trails that seemed in generally good condition and the cafe had food. After a couple of days at BPW we were heading to North Wales so called in to Nant Yr Arian as it seemed a good spot to break up the journey for lunch and a ride. The cafe was shut (on a sunny Saturday ffs). We rode the red route anyway which was pleasant enough but very old school xc and it's elevation was 30% higher than stated on the trail map. There were far more people there to look at the red kites than riding.
I’m in the camp of the mtb industry has decided its direction which is bike parks and uplift, and big travel / capable bikes
The industry is now geared up to people who don’t do the sport for fitness reasons. Plus riding round a trail centre on YouTube looks boring compared to someone going down a manicured burned bike park jump line.
Llandegla IMO has stolen most of CyB footfall. It’s close to Manc and Liverpool, why would you keep going another 1hr +
What I don’t understand is why bike parks don’t have more XC/Trail riding integrated in to them. Revolutions Bike Park said they were going to but no sign of it yet, Dyfi could do and create a massive area combined with the other stuff near by.
The fact is many people don’t want it, or are prepared to pay for it
Re reversing budget cuts, I’m not sure. What other services would be cut instead?
I think that when CYB was first opened there was a shortage of legitimate riding in North Wales. I always enjoyed riding there as it used to be fun with swooping, flowing single track. Then as suspension bikes became more of a thing two things happened. The original cafe was closed and moved across the road as well as the trails becoming rockier to provide more thrills for people with 130mm full sus bikes.
That was the point my partner stopped enjoying trail centres and we ceased to go. I would sometimes go on my own until I got rammed by a knob on an ebike.
I will never go to a bike park as it's not what I do and I am sure that lots of people enjoy them and have a great time. The problem is there are relativly few and from the photos I have seen they are a blot on the landscape.
I can easily drive to LLandeglla and ride but it's packed and and not that great to ride. CYB is a long way from population centres although I would consider riding their gravel trails. I would never go that often to ride gravel.
We now ride mixed road and limited offroad locally and with occaisional trips to ride in the Lakes, Peak District and Dales to limit our environmental impact. If we go to Scotland we will take bikes and ride while we are away which make me envious of the people who live there as the scope for riding is massive.
Maybe it's time to decide that CYB has had it's day and build facilities for cycling near local communities with the money.
Where I live the council with British cycling built a pump track in the park which is a huge sucess may be local facilities in Wales might work better. Cycling facilities should be about local kids not just people who have transport and long travel bikes.
I’m in the camp of the mtb industry has decided its direction which is bike parks and uplift, and big travel / capable bikes
The industry is now geared up to people who don’t do the sport for fitness reasons.
I'm going OT but The Industry's influence and what people want & buy are 2 parts of the same thing - consumer demand. We can all buy XC 120mm lightweight FS bikes if we want them but still they don't sell that well. Bigger bikes, E-FS etc are what sells so that's where the efforts are focussed. I said a while back that MTB would be a powered sport in time and while oc it won't become exclusively electric, the trend in that direction is strong. 90%+ of the bikes at the last trail centre I rode at were e-bikes. Though there's still plenty of us who like to pedal, popular MTB culture isn't really pedalling culture like it is in road and gravel.
Perhaps trail centres should cater more for e-bike use, perhaps that makes it too specialist based on the price of E-MTBs. Not sure on that one tbh.
What I don’t understand is why bike parks don’t have more XC/Trail riding integrated in to them.
I think XC riders have a more old-school get-out-there attitude, they're more likely to ride a mix of trails and byways in any area and less likely to travel to do a loop? More likely to be happy riding natural rails or loops that take in teh good stuff in an area. I used to live near Aston Hill and in 10 years I rode the XC loop maybe 5 times but rode natural trails in the area 10hrs+ a week year round. And there's trails like C-UKs Traws Eryi to cater for longer ride aspirations, I expect we'll see more of those pre-mapped longer distance trails with route guides published.
Are you just staying the obvious or do you mean ” a good trail remains a good trail even as time passes by”?
If so then it’s patently obviously bollocks, because the bar for good trail rises hugely as time goes on..
Only if we see MTB as all about progression and going bigger/faster etc. See my previous point about the bigger/harder/gnarrer influence in MTB or road sportives etc. It's only one way of seeing riding. I'd enjoy the original Afan trails as much today as I did then, on a bike I ride now. There's also BPW for another day's riding.
1) Sorry for my rudeness.
Coming back to the discussion...
Only if we see MTB as all about progression and going bigger/faster etc. See my previous point about the bigger/harder/gnarrer influence in MTB or road sportives etc.
I don't think that's the case here. I wasn't saying tht CyB isn't gnarly enough, I was saying it is neither gnarrrly enough nor flowy/ jumpy enough. It sort of sits in the middle in this no man's land.... The Red Bull in particular is rocky and twisty enough to require a fair bit of control and effort, but not gnadgery enough to give satisfaction. On the other hand there are minimal flow sections on it and hardly any decent jumps. There's loads of fire road downhills, but enough gnarr to preclude a gravel bike.
MBR has that awesome jumpy section, but it's a long slog to get to for someone whose main goal is jumps.
The Beast has a reasonable length, especially if combined with Red bull, and that's CyB's main plus.... Long interesting XC at a semi consistent difficulty without having to navigate.
It's got nice scenery, and nice views, but by no means epic. If you want long epic XC, and are willing to navigate, and surf the internet, then there's loads better.
Interesting though the debate about whether CyB trails are any good is, there’s a basic mismanagement issue
The bike shop is independent, run well and does ok on the current visitor numbers.
The parking and cafe is run by NRW who don’t seem to be good at getting money in eg:
Car park machines regularly out of action - leaving a major part of the site’s income on the floor (& no there isn’t a penalty for the provider)
Cafe run badly (see comments above about opening hours, food selection etc) also leaving income for the taking.
Get those sorted by people who know and are invested in the area and the financial picture would look different and enable better trail upkeep and development.
Totally agree.
Hope the community interest company being mooted does get off the ground.
As I said on a previous page, it's not going to suddenly become a goldmine, so get a sustainable solution in place now.
Curveball.
Do NRW or any other similar bodies have an advertising presence?
If I was Mr and Mrs Average with 2.1 kids on holiday and I saw something like CyB being advertised I think that I might be tempted to give it a go.
Thu @ 5pm: Online Public Meeting on future of Coed y Brenin & Nant yr Arian
Hi everyone
We wanted to let you know that NRW are holding an online public meeting at 5pm this Thursday, 5th Dec, on the future of Coed y Brenin and Bwlch Nant yr Arian:
We are holding an online public meeting to update communities on the future of Bwlch Nant yr Arian, Ynyslas and Coed y Brenin visitor centres.
The online meeting will start at 5pm on Thursday, December 5 and you can join via this link https://orlo.uk/Y8K09
This meeting will cover the same information provided at public meetings recently held in the local communities and will include the chance to ask questions.
If you’re at all interested in what happens to these important parts of the UK’s mountain bike infrastructure, then please attend the online meeting to show your support!
NRW have also set up an online consultation page, which may be updated with some FAQs before the meeting, and where they give an email address for people to ask questions ahead of the meeting.
NRW are currently saying that, although they’re temporarily closing the cafes and visitor centres while they look for new partners to take them on, the trails themselves will remain open and continue to be maintained. Given the budget cuts that NRW have committed to, we are sceptical about NRW’s intention and ability to maintain the trails on an ongoing basis, and thus whether they’ll be able to keep the trails open in the long run. That scepticism seems to be shared by the local businesses and communities around the trails.
Thank you in advance for your help on this.
cheers
Robin
Robin Grant
Founder & Chair
UK MTB Trail Alliance
