Has this been done? Sorry if it has..

Strikes me as being a little odd – couldnt they have spent the money in other areas..Its not as if S Wales is lacking in trail centers..

I live in S Wales, so I'm very happy with this, but I do take your point about the need in other areas!

Closer to areas of high population and motorway access are probably the main reasons, that and it'll ease the crowds that Cwmcarn gets. That place is ridiculous on the weekends.

We don't know if any other areas applied for EU money to spend on MTB centres. Or do we?

And even if they did, we don't know if their applications were any good.

The stated intention here is to bring visitors to the area for a longer period. Presume that means get people to stay for a week instead of just a weekend and get more money out of them.

Good news anyway I reckon, and it's a part of the country that could definitely do with some help.

I think it's great – even thought it's a longish drive from me in West Yorkshire.

a) South Wales needs development and above all job creation
b) The cash is coming from the EU, which means other people are paying for trails to be developed
c) Anything that raises the profile of the sport and provides new places to ride is a good thing

We could do with £200,000 for some basic trail repairs and reinforcement. But we don't want no steeenkin' trail centre 😉

Fantastic the sport is getting investment, from a selfish point of view, please can we get the Farley Mount trail centre of the ground, there is bugger all within easy reach of soton.

Ha good tis about time they started doing something, i live in south wales and find cwm carn a pain in the arse to get to and only today i found that the trail that i made up which consists of mountain roads has been ruined 😥 They have covered the path with a 1ft layer of pine branches so that tractors dont get stuck in the mud 😯

Great if it comes off, 25% spending squeeze and all contributing partners from the public sector makes me think it'll get dropped.

South Wales trails are all a bit tired now compared to scottish ones. This investment is sorely needed. I hope a big chunk of this will be targeted at green/blue type riders, apart from Brechfa there is very little in south wales to pull raw novices or little kids in.

+1 for more trails aimed at kids/novices

frankly who cares which part of the country gets it so long as our sport picks up the funding and it raises the profile
Agree with green and blue trails, they dont have to be boring either – Glentress blue is ace fun

oldagedpredator – Member
Great if it comes off, 25% spending squeeze and all contributing partners from the public sector makes me think it'll get dropped.

The money is coming from the EU so it probably won't get scrapped.

Good news. I hope they spend some of it on the Twrch up at Cwmcarn though. Don't get me wrong, it's my favourite, but it's a 5 hour drive from where I live (west Cornwall, so it's my closest trail centre!) and so it's a special treat to go there. It's getting a bit worn IMO, needs closing down for a few weeks and sorting out.

Thought they announced this a few months ago, not sure why BikeRadar have posted it up again? Still it's good news (especially as it will be convenient to me :p ).

The previous article in November 09 was the news that the bid was being put in, the news article yesterday was that the bid has been successful. The article about the bid gives a few more specifics about where the money is to be spent but the exact details are quite thin on the ground, I would love to see the funding application!

but it's a 5 hour drive from where I live (west Cornwall, so it's my closest trail centre!)

A 5 hour drive passing Dartmoor, Haldon Forest (Trail Centre), Exmoor and the Quantocks. Personally I'd rather spend less time driving to trail centres and more time riding (but I'm in the lucky position of living on the Quantocks). I've never been that impressed with Cwmcarn, Afan is a bit better but still hard to justify the 4 hour round trip. 🙁

Yeah I wouldn't drive 5 hours to go to Cwmcarn (unless you know the non-trail centre trails as well), it's a decent loop but soon gets stale. You should def do the Quantocks instead.

Doh! I hardly ever ride man made trails, maybe I wasn't being clear enough 🙂 I ride Dartmoor as often as possible, at least once a month, more this time of year when the days are longer. Haldon is not worth going to (IMO) especially given it's proximity to the great rides on Dartmoor. Guilty of not going up to the Quantocks/Exmoor as often as I should, maybe only a couple of times a year. Cwmcarn is central(ish) to alot of my mates who live around England we like the campsite and we arrange a week or two a year when we all get time off together, meet up there and use it as a base for rides around the Brecons, S. Wales (natural and man made stuff) When I started riding 20 years ago there were no trail centres so I like a blast round one occasionaly, and I do really like the Twrch but I thought sections of it were getting a bit rutted and worn last time we went up.

I think the potential for South Wales, well all of Wales to be honest,is immense.The geography of the land, with all those valley's is begging to be used.

I'mean how many trail centres are south of Birmingham?
How many have proper downhill runs? Not too many I imagine as the land is pretty flat.

In the words of Kevin Costner or was it James earl Jones " build it and they will come"

Would n't 5m be better spent on the bridleway network.Trying to link good bits together with permissive paths ,better signing etc?

5M would build great trails where people actually are, to reduce traffic and carbon footprint.

But I suppose this is really about Welsh regional development into an MTB holiday destination.

Wales has had lots of money pumped into it since the mining industry died .Let's hope this works .Although I am not a fan of trail centres it would be good to see a postitive result from the injection of capital

5M would build great trails where people actually are, to reduce traffic and carbon footprint.

yeah can just imagine it now, a beautiful ribbon of bench cut singletrack snaking though the centre of Westfield shopping centre, some rollers over the perfume counter of Debenhams, slab features made of gravestones in the local churchyard and B&Q corner – a nice northshore section

I can take or leave trail centres, they have a purpose and they enable me to ride when my local natural trails are waterlogged or just need a break to recover from the british weather, but the last thing I would want to do is ride where the population is – thats exactly why I bike, to get away from all that

People dont tend to live where the land is contoured for great riding, the two generally dont go together

Yes, but I dont live in Wales

The FA isnt building £5million of football pitches in South Wales to make it a football holliday destination? Why is mountainbiking purely invested in areas where the population density is low?

Why not build trail centers where people actualy live, get kids off their arses and into the sport. There's no way Mr and Mrs middle class are going to take their kid on holliday to South Wales just because MBUK said it was good. But they are more likely to drive an hour or so to a trail center.

Merthyr is one of the most impoverished parts of wales, so I expect this money is more to do with the EU granting cash to try to bring tourism and thus cash to the area and rejuvenate it.

Its a vehicle for helping people to improve their lot, rather than developing mtbing – that's just the mechanism by which it occurs.

The EU are not going to spend money developing Surrey, end of story.

The EU are not going to spend money developing Surrey, end of story.

Yep – very few areas in the Uk now qualify for EU Objective 1 funding, which is what this is about.

From Wiki

Objective one regions are (NUTS:2) regions most at need of the regional policy. To qualify for objective one status the GDP per capita for the region must be below 75% of the EU average; areas with very low populations such as much of Sweden and Finland also qualify for objective one status.

The recognition of Objective One status is usually accompanied by structural funds support from the European Community as part of its regional policy.

Achievement of Objective One status is frequently the subject of much political debate and manoeuvring. The current areas were designated in 1999 for the period up until 2006. Some regions in the pre-2004 member states had their objective one status phased out in 2006.

Regions qualifying for objective one status include nearly all the regions of the new member states, most of Southern Italy, East Germany, most of Greece and Portugal, and much of Spain and western and border regions of Ireland. In the United Kingdom, Cornwall, Merseyside, South Yorkshire and much of Wales qualify under objective one. Scotland's objective one regions are due to be phased out. Northern Ireland, although having a GDP per capita above the qualification threshold, benefits from objective one status because of the peace process.

Good point about vulnerability to public sector budget freeze. EU assisted projects require 50% match funding in order to go ahead.