Midway thru’ my regular XC jeyboy loop in Lordswood, I passed two youths, one sat astride a child’s bike of dubious provenance and the other a raggedy BMX, whilst nonchantly smoking a fag. They couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

“Seen the jumps, mate?” one of them piped up.

“Yeah, just head down the track – they’re on the right.”

“No, I mean, have you seen – they’ve been demolished.”

“What?“

Thereafter followed a conversation about how such jump spots had helped keep ’em – and I quote – “out of trouble”. I thought of my formative years on BMX tracks and in the woods, and nodded in agreement.

“I’m gonna build some where nobody can find ’em” said the fag smoking one, with determination.

Now, I understand the complexities of public liability insurance and was as pissed as anyone by the amount of litter left at that spot… but if adults can put this much effort into tearing stuff down – surely they can find the energy to build a legitimate pump/BMX track… hey-ho, it might even serve to occupy bored and distracted kids. And keep ’em out of trouble…

Always the same, i had one of my local jump spots destroyed a few years back, it was out of the way, away from houses and paths, NO litter (i personally cleared any that was left) most annoying thing was that id just spent 8 hours digging there with a friend the weekend before it got destroyed. Havent bothered building since.

I blame Thatcher 🙂

It’s crap though isn’t it 🙁

but if adults can put this much effort into tearing stuff down – surely they can find the energy to build a legitimate pump/BMX track

Shouldnt that be…

but if riders can put this much effort into building it – surely they can find the energy to source a legitimate location.

There are loads of skateparks popping up these days, logical next step required?

Ha! You think people are gonna listen to a group of 14 year olds (as we were at the time too) and give them somewhere to build?

When it boils down to it, if you are doing something on some one elses land you have to assume that your vandalism will not be approved of. It amazes me that anyone can be upset or aggrieved unless they are the person who has to pull down illegal jumps. Of course current litigation panics do not help.

It amazes me that anyone can be upset or aggrieved

Huh? ok, fair enough about the other peoples land bit, but its still bloody annoying!

which jumps? the kennel jumps? the jumps through the pump track?

I’m with PJ266 here. Kids have always built stuff, be it dens, jumps whatever. And as long as they are doing so they are usually gainfully employed and keeping out of trouble. So tell you what lets tear down what they’re doing. No explanation. No discussion. Then when they are bored and disillusioned, hanging round residential areas, the keyboard warrior on here can go and own them with ski masks and baseball bats. Sorted!

So those that think building jumps on other peoples land is fair enough – can I build some in your garden?

That is a true pain in the arse. I’d re visited lordswood after a break (read as fuming at FC approach to ‘gentle’ woodland felling)and was pleasantly surprised at the trails re appearing. Is it just the dirt jumps or the downhill track too?

Lordswood has the potential to be an incredibly healthy output for some of the local darlings, having worked in the area for a considerable time dealing with their bored restless behaviour i despair.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a sustained investment in the cycling opportunities at Lordswood 🙄

So those that think building jumps on other peoples land is fair enough – can I build some in your garden?

yes, how about tomorrow?

Hmmm… land ownership. There’s another can of worms.

But to summarise, if it’s regularly in us for a set purpose, i.e. a garden, football pitch, farmer’s field probably not. However if it’s woodland where people should have the right to go and the trail builders are inclusive to all and clear up after themselves then yes. If I owned a few hundred acres I don’t think I’d have a problem with responsible building. Actually TJ, that’s amazingly right wing for you. I’m surprised what with your admirable comments about access for all as in Scotland.

if i had a garden i’d build some jumps myself.

if it is council land then it is sort of your land too.

The point is half these trails arent in peoples gardens/fields, they are in disused woodland that wouldnt be being used for anything else. If the place is a SSSI then fair dooze, but some of these places have the ecological importance of a concrete path. Anyway, what harm would a few jumps do to some woodland?

Near where I live, the local kids have done a fair bit of grooming to the local woods. The trails are very sympathetic to the land and unobtrusive. There is plenty room for all. However it doesn’t stop the local tweed-cap-green-welly dog walkers from kicking stuff down. I’ve been there a few times and the kids seem polite and pleasant, alas to no avail. Still give it a couple of months and they’ll be reduced to swigging White Lightening down the precinct and then we’ll all be happy.

😀

Still, hopefully there will come a time when councils realise that these bmx tracks/jumps are good things. My town (despite having a population nearly 10.000) still doesnt have a bloody skatepark! and yet little villages around us do.

I was being devils advocate I guess. I know half a dozen sets of unauthorised jumps. Some are well done and tidy, some look like at utter mess. some are in sensitive spots and keep being removed, some are on wasteland.

Far better than moaning about it on here would be to get some authorised building done. Do a bit of lobbying of the council and ask a few landowners if there is a corner you can use.

As for Coyotes point. In Scotland access does not mean the right to build jumps

Be nice if one of the mags could get something going, you know along the lines of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s landshare thingy. Probably a worthwhile crusade for MBUK? Might drop ’em a line.

“Ha! You think people are gonna listen to a group of 14 year olds (as we were at the time too) and give them somewhere to build?”

No-one will give any kids land to build on, if they treat it the way they’d treated Lordswood.

Me and half a dozen or so mates (we aren’t 14 anymore, we’re about twice that age sadly) had built those particular pumpy jumps over the last 18 months or so, and the reason they’d survived that long was because we were careful about what and how we built. We spent a lot of time and effort there, not just digging, but taking the increasing amounts of litter home. On one occasion WCA took 4 or 5 black bin bags full home with him. We must have taken away a dozen or so in the last year alone.

I can’t be sure, but we think the reason the jumps were demolished was because of the litter, and to be honest, as much as we’re all pretty angry they’ve been levelled, it’s been comming for some time.

They were great whilst they lasted, and even the FC didn’t have a problem with them, but my advice to anyone digging anywhere; try (almost certainly in vain) to teach the local kids some social responsibility, and keep your spot clean.

We won’t be bulding there again in a hurry I don’t expect, and when we build again, we won’t be as welcoming to the kids

with regard to getting official parks built: the local kids in Haverfordwest have the backing of the local paper, have created an official club and are going through all the official channels…result?

3 years later, no park.

meanwhile the council comes down like a ton of bricks on any lump of soil that might have been ridden over with a bike.

what exactly are they supposed to do?

I live in Southampton and ride in Lordswood most weekends. I’ve found the kids up there to be polite. Even the ones on the mx bikes slow down when they go past you to avoid showering you in stones. I was up there last weekend and I didn’t think the amount of litter was that bad for a place populated by kids/teenagers. Considering I removed three bags of litter from my front garden yesterday. Anyway as far as I know the jumps in Lordwood get demolished and rebuilt every now and again. When I was a student that area was completely different. I don’t build because I don’t jump (anymore) but it does annoy me that (the council?) demolish these sites and then wonder why the youth get bored and vandalise stuff. Also some poor sods have to go to all the trouble of building it only to have it knocked down again. The fact that it’s on forestry land and the jumps aren’t supposed to be there doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I like to see people enjoying themselves and getting fit in the process rather than siting in front of the telly.

I live on Hayling and the lcal kids had built a small area of jumps in a damp area of woodland in one corner of a farmer feild. There was some liter and fires etc. The local council met the kids and a grant of £8K was made available, as was a patch of land roughly the size of a tennis court. The land was next to the billy trail and 400 meters from the old site.
The kids got tons of earth, spades , shovels wheel barrows etc and over a year have built a huge selection of jumps. All of which are beyond my abilty, but they have a large berm which i session when the ‘yoofs’ are not in attendance.
There are a set of rules , bins , fencing and bike friendly entrances. There is hardly any rubbish at all, and its well used by some annoyingly good bmx bandits.
So aalthough the jumps in LW have been destroyed , with some correspondance maybe some sanctioned jumps could be constructed. Its a tricky area tho, not just in the liability issue, but also the location and land ownership

chunkychew, I feel for you – that was a little great area for playing around and clearly a lot of effort went into it
looks like it was a victim of its popularity

Most (not all) of the kids are polite, but politeness isn’t the issue here. It’s a lack of social responsibility. Were any of us particulary charming at 14? I doubt it. Did we all litter, and burn out motorbikes? I’m betting not.

As for acceptable amounts of litter, personaly I don’t think any amount is acceptable, and clearly neither did the landowner at Lordswood.

There are a large number of us who would love nothing more than to get together, form a club, and build legally in LW, but unfortunately, the land is privately owned and only managed by the FC.

Too many fun Nazis.

The skills of some of those BMX kids are phenomenal. A belief in immortality probably helps 🙂

We as adults should be doing more to encourage them. They don’t have the nous or the contacts.

I have ridden at Lordswood. Who actually owns the land then and what conditions do the FC have to adhere to? Perhaps the fine detail may help here?

Yes it would be interesting to know who was responsible for demolishing the jumps and why.

Ha! You think people are gonna listen to a group of 14 year olds (as we were at the time too) and give them somewhere to build?

When I was about 14 a group of 20-30 of us managed to get enough room from the council to build a 10 foot wide, 7 foot high ramp as well as a street course. We then convinced them to top up our funds (we formed a club with membership fees) to buy the materials, got them to supply lighting for the area and managed to get local firms to give us a load of stuff.

So yeah, organised kids can get a lot done 🙂

some amazing dirt jump spots have been trashed over the years.
my first ever jumps i built 30yrs ago in enfield were never trashed but were built under a railway bridge and are now a massive set of trails 🙂
to be honest most kids who build dj’s know that they have a short life span usually but do it anyway.

The FC bloke responsible for this area is Bern Phelan. Perhaps a few of us should send him (polite) emails asking why the jumps were destroyed so that when we build the new set we don’t make the same mistakes.

ben.phelan@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

I can’t be sure, but we think the reason the jumps were demolished was because of the litter

I did suspect that was the case.

A shame, for sure…