We were fortunate to have had a meeting with Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) during their drafting of the Wider Peak District Cycle Strategy and as you will see from our earlier posts on the site, a major concern was the lack of reference to mountain biking.
In fact, mountain bikes were mentioned only once in the original document. At the meeting we were advised that the strategy is geared around funding streams and pots of government monies that can be accessed by bidding.
At the current time there are funds available for cycle projects that fir into the ‘recreational cycling’ model and hence why there is a lot of activity in this area. We did not accept that this was sufficient rationale to reduce mountain biking to a footnote within the document.
PDNPA has now opened up its strategy for consultation and we haev compared both documents. It is pleasing to see that the strategy that has gone out for wider consultation has raised mountain biking a little higher up the agenda. It is still woefully underrepresented and we will continue to press the PDNPA for engagement and action wherever we can, but it’s a start.
Check out the Hope Valley Cycle Trail and our updates to the site coming later.
