This is my official eve of european election post Please don’t miss reading the link at the bottom). It goes without any doubt much of the excellent work creating dedicated mtb facilities in Wales which leads the UK in this kind of facility along with Scotland the Lakes and Yorkshire being 2nd 3rd and 4th all can only say the same without European Regional Development Fund support non of this stuff would have happened. Those who say the money we will save from not being in Europe would pay for it, totally fail to note these areas otherwise have always been low priorities to past governments.. Labour love Industrial deadlands to fritter its spare cash away.. the Tories like giving tax cuts to the home counties or grumpily build wind farms, HS2 another airport for London or another rail link across London. The current debacle about the funding of the electrification of the South Wales main line shows you Westminster will not roll up with a van full of cash to build trails. UKIP don’t give two monkeys if the people of Wales live in mud huts and if we are forced to live in them and never go out…. when voting tomorrow forget the british patriotic rhetoric and just wonder if the good stuff that gets built around you features a flag with a ring of stars on a notice board.. this includes ‘private’ developments like LLandegla, or Public or state developments like Coed y Brenin, Marin, Penmachno, Antur Stiniog, Bike Park Wales, Afan, Brechfa, Nant yr Arian and a list that goes on….. the alternative.. there is none you will end up with a recent post from a farm in Gloucester looking for crowd source funding to build a state of the art venture. Such schemes will work but there will not be many. The choice is riding along a pristine trail with a big grin thinking the Germans dutch and french helped pay for the fun or you can vote for an end to the trail by electing a group that will not fight to get UK’s poorer regions access to ERDF to develop its infrastructure.
I had planned to post some nice pictures of euro funding flags at welsh mtb trail centres to hammer home the point but to be fair the Daily Mail has provided a far more inspiring reason to see who European tuning helps our sport since the sports council funding does so little …. This article is about an exciting development for disabled to enjoy the thrill of MTB downhill is only happening thanks to ERDF funds…. writing it on the ballot paper .. leave the last box well alone UKIP are not and never will be your friend.
