Phew, thought there was going to be two competing projects there for a minute but it's ok - the Innerleithen guys now want a choo choo:
"Concerned with the slow progress of the much talked about chairlift at Innerleithen the local community have taken things into their own hands.
The original idea for a chairlift was first talked about in 2006 and following input from Emma and Tracey at The Hub and Gravity logic from Whistler, a feasibility study by the local enterprise agency and others was kicked off. The feasibility study identified a need and proposed a chairlift and associated infrastructure including new trail development at a cost of just over £10m. That was back in 2008 and not a lot has happened until now.
August 2010 saw a group from the local community pick up the mantel to see if they could move things forward or at least throw the weight of the community behind the project. A year later and things are moving. The group, AIMUp (Action for the Innerleithen Mechanical Uplift) brought the original partners back together to determine why things had stalled. Funding and costs were high on the agenda. In hard economic times there was very little prospect of finding the funds to take the plan to the next stage or to find a willing private partner to bring the £10m+ proposal to fruition.
With a strong group from the local community made up of local businesses, architects, engineers, and Lawyers including many mountain bikers, the group set about developing a real and cost effective proposal to take Mountain Biking at Innerleithen forward. The result is a community proposal costing close to half the original plan with a greater level of infrastructure. It is a plan which works alongside the Glentress Peel development and utilizes the proposed development of the Tweed Valley Railway line cycle paths. It proposes a proven uplift system with a lower environmental impact, re-construction of some existing trails alongside the development of new trails.
Is this just all talk and unlikely to happen? Well the group thinks the plan is a realistic one, they are looking at it from a business perspective. “Any development must be able to pay for itself, the business plan has to be robust and real”. “The number of mountain bikers combined with the existing facilities, services and trails at Innerleithen don’t justify the capital expenditure for a project of this size. It would be great to think it does and most people see the potential, but in today’s economic climate, the proposal has to incorporate facilities for many users groups and not just mountain bikers”.
The group has taken on the lessons learnt from other resorts and chairlift operators in the UK, Europe and Canada. They propose a rail mounted transport system that provides a proven low impact and cost effective system, which can transport up to 1200 people per hour(maximum capacity) to the top of Plora Rig. It is widely used by ski resorts throughout Europe and can be easily adapted for mountain bikers, in fact the group are actively working with the company to ensure the system works for mountain bikers alongside other users. In addition to the transport infrastructure the group propose base and top station facilities, a new cyclist/walkers bridge to allow for increased capacity, An all weather toboggan run, 4X tracks, new parking facilities and the all important development of the trail infrastructure. The proposal is aimed at working alongside Glentress to ensure that The Tweed Valley offers trails and facilities for all levels and disciplines of mountain biking for many years to come.
Is this the future for Innerleithen? I was told they can come with clip on roofs to protect you from our lovely weather
The group have had very positive meetings with the local council, councilors, MP’s and MSP’s. They have recently completed a successful round of public consultations and are working to take the project to a national level within the next 2 months . They have identified funding opportunities and are actively working towards a constitution that enables them to capture the funding required.
However, they are not getting carried away, ‘we have been here before, with lots of good ideas but no money to make it happen. The business model needs to be a realistic one, with the next stage to take the initial proposal and make it workable and affordable for the community, the end users and for the area around us”.
If you would like further details of the group and their plans, the group can be contacted at our Facebook Page or email:innerleithenaimup@gmail.com or phone Steve Davies on 01896 830208
life on hold for 5 yrs - it's not the new forth road bridge. It's a project with about the same complexity as building a shithouse in the woods.
