Plans to build a “world-class” £10m mountain bike park in Aberdeenshire have been unveiled.
The project, at Durris Forest, is being developed by the North East Trail Centre Organisation (Netco).
The site, between Stonehaven and Banchory, was selected by the charity following a year-long feasibility study which looked at four potential sites.
The plan is for multiple bike runs, nature trails, and dry slope skiing and snowboarding facilities.
It is thought it could create dozens of jobs.
Netco hopes to raise funds through a mixture of public and private sources.
‘Excellent venue’
Netco chairman Martin Byers said: “It’s the perfect time to launch our vision of a multi-adventure activity mountain bike park, which we firmly believe is greatly needed in Aberdeenshire.
“Our plans represent an opportunity to inspire more people to discover outdoor sports in a natural environment, bolster Scotland’s current mountain biking facilities strategy, create jobs and help bring sustained growth to our local economy.”
He added: “Durris is an excellent venue due in part to its convenient proximity to Aberdeen and surrounding towns.
“Incorporating snow sports enhances the appeal of the development for everyone and opens up market opportunities.”
Belinda Miller, head of economic development at Aberdeenshire Council, said: “This is an exciting and innovative proposal from Netco and one that has the potential to put this part of Scotland on the map for family-friendly adventure sports facilities.”
Public consultations with the local community will take place early next year, ahead of a formal planning application to Aberdeenshire Council.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-41983842

Good luck to them, not my favorite hill as its always damp/wet but hopefully they’ll sort all that out.

Coupled with the proposed Tarland Trails 2 we’re going to have a wealth of year round trails. Exciting times.

And Banchory are looking to develop an official trail also – somewhere between the golf course and rubbish tip I think. I’m a bit shaky on the details.

Speaking of which crowdfunding link For clarity I’m not involved with either project but I’m looking forward to both.

I’m curious how this is all going to work. It seems to have grown arms and legs from being a trail center and now seems to Be a business proposal ?

Who owns the land the fc or a local estate ?

It would be a nice to have as it’s close to my house mind and be nice to have weather proof trails at durris as I actively avoid anything off the fire roads atm due to bruneeps comments above.

Good news, I know they’ve put a load of work into this, definitely the direction UK mtbing needs to be heading in rather than everyone sitting in front of their computers moaning how the civil service isn’t magically providing them with new trails for nothing and moaning about paying to park to use what there is or the showers not being opened for them at 6am etc etc etc

Absolutely fantastic if you’re a local but how does the commercial viability/ROI on this stack up? How many riders are there locally? Beyond that you’re chasing visitors and How much of the uk popn is within 2 hrs of this site?

I’m trying toe enthuse my riding mates to go beyond Wales and go to the 7 Staines for our spring, long weekend boys trip. They’re winging about the distance to get there so not a chance they would trek up to Aberdeenshire and not sure that I would either.

Don’t get me wrong the more facilities the better but if you’re talking charitable funds being allocated surely there has to be a roi calculation?

Local riders are plentiful that wouldn’t worry me too much. We have alot of local riding spots and pick any one on a Saturday or Sunday morning and the carparks are busy busy.