[Closed] Open MTB - the new Englandandwales access organisation

Oh yeah?

Yeah

😀

[i]It’s made up of volunteers from several different corners of mountain biking in the UK – there are access officers, advocacy representatives from organisations such at British Cycling and the CTC, as well as journalists, IMBA (remember them?) and trail-building organisations throughout the UK.[/i]

I'm interested how this Group of Volunteers was 'made up'. Anyone know?

more to the point how do others join this self appointed group?

or do you need to be in the "circle of trust" 😉

The group is an amalgamation of other more local groups that already exist like [url= http://www.peakdistrictmtb.org ]Peak District MTB[/url] and Ride Sheffield. Get yourself signed up to your local group and you're immediately helping "the cause". The idea is to have a national voice made up of regional groups as well as the bigger organisations like BC and CTC.

The group is an amalgamation of other more local groups that already exist like Peak District MTB and Ride Sheffield. Get yourself signed up to your local group and you're immediately helping "the cause". The idea is to have a national voice made up of regional groups as well as the bigger organisations like BC and CTC.

I take it that you are on the OpenMTB group, who are the others?

Local group? How does one find that out? Not seen anything on the CTC website, I am a member. I'm in the South/South West, are we represented?

'Self appointed' makes me uncomfortable, why are they not named on their Facebook account?

stilltortoise how do 'other more local groups' get involved? Today on STW & FB is the first I have head of this.

Edit: hello from South East England 😉

Interested. If a group of people with experience and contacts have put themselves forward to take this on I'm in support of them, let's see how it goes. It's good that people have been pro-active.

What I find odd is that the LAFs are not engaging with the general public. There are people representing cycling, in my area that means on the road, but there's no mechanism to engage with them or give feedback or indeed share thoughts.

Lost opportunity, imo.

'Self appointed' makes me uncomfortable, why are they not named on their Facebook account?

circle of trust 😉

does the group have a constitution? is it a CASC, company, or club?

is it applying for and receiving funding from anywhere?

what's the engagement plan?

what are the strategic aims? What timelines?

what engagement is their with other key access groups such as ramblers and BHS??

etc

cinnamon_girl - Member

'Self appointed' makes me uncomfortable, why are they not named on their Facebook account?

This is very early days, your discomfort is a little eager, but mabe you've got a point, These things need to be transparent. I'm sure they will be, but they only agreed on a name 2 weeks ago, give them a *little* time to write a constitution.

In the case of Ride Sheffield, appointing yourself goes like this:

1) turn up at the pub for the AGM
2) ask Henry if you can get involved - he'll say 'glad you asked, can you make a National Trust meeting a week next Tuesday?'
3) you just got appointed.

this is actually very exciting news.

cinnamon_girl - Member

What I find odd is that the LAFs are not engaging with the general public. There are people representing cycling, in my area that means on the road, but there's no mechanism to engage with them or give feedback or indeed share thoughts.

Lost opportunity, imo

try and get on your local LAF, write to them setting out what user group you think is missing and why you can add to the group. They can only say no thanks.

some LA's have a second group dealing with specific issues which may be another route to put your views forward

This is very early days, your discomfort is a little eager, but mabe you've got a point, these things need to be transparent, i'm sure they will be.

ah ha, someone inside the circle!!! 😉

how else do you think i know the 3 step plan to getting involved with my local mtb advocacy group?

I take it that you are on the OpenMTB group, who are the others?

I'm in Peak District MTB and we have a representative on the group. I don't (yet) have the detail to share that some of you are asking. This is a good thing so keep eyes and ears peeled as more information becomes available to share.

try and get on your local LAF, write to them setting out what user group you think is missing and why you can add to the group. They can only say no thanks.

some LA's have a second group dealing with specific issues which may be another route to put your views forward

Years ago I offered my services by e-mail, never heard a thing. Bit peeved as off road cycling was not represented. I then had a little involvement with a County Council but then moved out of the county.

came up on my FB page yesterday. Keeping an eye on it as well. Keen to "give back" we'll see how it develops, hopefully a bit more successful that some of the other advocacy groups that have been and gone.

Why do I have to have FB to find out about them?

My FB PA will not want some MTB forum on her page... 🙂

are you having a LAF ( https://www.gov.uk/local-access-forums-participate-in-decisions-on-public-access#contacts)

Oxfordshire
Next meeting - To be held on 7 April 2015 at 9.45am for 10am start

Wiltshire and Swindon
The next meeting will be on 26 September 2012

"In the past it has been difficult for governing bodies to consult our diverse community due to the lack of a single point of contact."
and
"In our first campaign OpenMTB, CTC, British Cycling and Welsh Cycling will soon be launching ‘Trails for Wales’ "

Why do I have to have FB to find out about them?

It's quick and easy and a platform that a LOT of people use already. It's certainly a good place to ask questions of those directly involved.

DaRC_L - Member
Why do I have to have FB to find out about them?

more or less everything there is to know so far is on the STW article.

i can assure you that there is no hollowed-out volcano, no monorail, no shark-tanks for dispatching enemies, etc.

a website will be along sooner or later, i'm sure.

no shark-tanks for dispatching

QECP trail collective is now engaged 😉

not even a bad tempered sea bass that i'm aware of.

Wow, you lot can run away with a conspiracy faster than anyone I know!!!

It's a grass roots group that BC and CTC have got involved with, which is great... when you look at how organised other user groups are there is a reason MTBers have been lacking a voice, we'd all rather be out riding our bikes than writing flyers and letters. I'm really pleased a bunch of people have stepped up to try and do something and intend to support in any way I can.

SingletrAction are one of the member groups, it was formed from a bunch of people getting together at PMBA (i think) and chatting, lamenting how there was a gap by way of a voice for the mtb community. Then realising that they were the people to do something about it. And so they did...

(as I understand it, I didn't go, I went riding my bike instead - see what I mean?)

We as a community are not great at this, its a fact, look at IMBA UK.

For us (STA), the chairman sits on the group and feeds back to the lead members what goes on (progress on pirahna tank etc), these things move slowly and it's pretty impressive it's got to where it is since all those taking the lead on OpenMTB are volunteers, and they span the country.

My understanding is this group has been set up by volunteers who are already involved in trail advocacy at a local level including reps from all areas of England and Wales. From what I've heard they are trying to get representatives from each area to share their experience, expertise and join forces for one united voice for bikers.

So far, volunteers have been travelling to long meetings at their expense with no funding as yet so I can see why they haven't got a website etc. set up. These things take time and a huge amount of committment from people who are already busy with work, family, riding, local advocacy. However despite all this, momentum is growning, national bodies are courting interest and headway is being made.

They are gathering up all the details of reps for the regions so you can get involved locally, but you can sign up to Ride Sheffield and Peak District MTB through their websites as they represent riders who ride in the area, not just those who live there.

Finally, if you want to get involved: go and comment on the Wales consultation. They haven't exactly made it easy to answer but you can email them directly. The PDF document on their website isn't complete in Safari but works in Firefox.

Is this the end of Cheeky riding 🙁

I know PMBA are involved 🙂

If it makes the conspiracy theorists a little happier, I'm quite relaxed to say that I'm involved. I can also vouch for the knowledge, experience and professionalism of everybody else involved - not to mention the dedication and time that's been put in just getting this far.

Nobody appointed us as a group per se because there's nobody that actually can appoint us - the real driver was the simple fact that nobody was doing anything, and somebody needed to. And fast because of the situation in Wales.

There's no major secrecy and I don't think anybody in the group particularly wants to be anonymous. It's just that we've all had our heads down trying to pull a campaign together and build a structure etc.

For info, there are twenty-odd different riders groups, representing several thousand riders, all of whom are cooperating for the first time to try and enhance the future of our sport.

None of us are in it for personal gain, and most people wouldn't know who most of the members of the group were anyway, so there's really little point in making a big noise about people.

Far more important is that we make a big noise about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Is this the end of Cheeky riding ?"

NO, Cheeky pretty much stopped riding years ago!

#injoke#

Hold the conspiracy theories! This all started when some of us realised just how influential groups such as the BMC and Ramblers have become over the years and that there was no comparable group speaking for MBers. IMBA did its best but faded. The strength of the BMC in particular is founded on the fact that it's very much grass roots organisation and we wanted to replicate that. Hence the alliance of groups from all over the country like Bristol Trails Group, Singletraction, PMBA, LDMBA, Peak District MTB and Ride Sheffield. What we've ended up with is an entirely volunteer group who genuinely want to speak on behalf of MBers countrywide. Because it's made up of local groups, what it says should be decided by MBers who ally themselves with those groups. Thus, if you're involved in a local group, make sure it gets to hear about OpenMTB. If you haven't got a local group, form one! Being a volunteer group, most of whose members have day jobs, we're not going to build an all-singing-all-dancing advocacy group overnight, it's going to take time. However, we're all active mountain bikers, we think we want what you want, more enlightened rights of way legislation, good relations with land managers of every stripe all over the country, good practice advice for MBers, an understanding of how economically crucial MBing is and a united voice for this ever-growing community. If you like the sound of that, tell everyone you know. If you don't, tell us!

unklehomered - Member
Is this the end of Cheeky riding ?"
NO, Cheeky pretty much stopped riding years ago!
#injoke#

🙂

Is there a group in Wales?

We have a couple of notable Welsh activists involved and a sub-group is currently working on a response to the Welsh Access Green Paper.

Who are the 'notable Welsh activists'? Is there anyone from Wales in the sub-group. This is all very hush hush.

'very hush hush' suggests secrecy, conspiracies, and deception.

which is probably unfair.

From what i understand, the idea is to work towards a group not-unlike the BMC, which is great, but that's going to take time. i'm sure a little patience will be rewarded.

Publically pledged supporting groups:

SingletrAction,
TrailTeam Swinley,
Lake District Mountain Bike Association ,
Chase Trails,
Peak District MTB
QECP Trail Collective,
Bristol Trails Group,
Tyne Valley MTB,
Dean Trail Volunteers,
Pennine Mountain Bike Action,
North Wales Mountain Bike Association
Ride Sheffield,
Trail Action Group.

8)

Speaking as a Scotland resident, I don't need to become involved. We already have a working access framework. But I wish this group success in getting something similar for England and Wales.

I'm sure John won't mind that i've stolen this from the Ride Sheffield website:

Simple pleasure mountain biking. Take a couple of wheels, a frame, brakes, add some great landscape and, in the words of the late, lamented George Cole, the world is your lobster Terence. No matter how hard the manufacturers try to complicate matters with different wheel sizes, wireless seat posts, fancy materials and lurid colours, it’s still just a bike, a transport of delight.

Unfortunately, the world of mountain bike advocacy works the other way round. It might begin with riders trying to convince a local council not to knock down some shonky dirt jumps or flatten a favourite trail but it usually becomes much more complicated. Land managers zero in on any sign of engagement from user groups like sharks scenting blood in the water. Before you know it, you’re up to your neck in stakeholder groups, Local Access Forums and management plans.

And you very quickly realise that you’re surrounded by people with significant political clout. The Ramblers, British Horse Society and the British Mountaineering Council have spent years building influence and establishing themselves as valued partners for everyone from the National Trust through the RSPB to the national parks. Which is why Ride Sheffield thought that a formal national group to speak on behalf of mountain bikers would be a good idea. Our original idea was for a northern alliance encompassing well established groups such as Peak District MTB, Singletraction, Pennine Mountain Bike Action and the Lake District Mountain Bike Association but it quickly became apparent that those same groups felt that we should aim higher.

Which is how Ride Sheffield ended up being a founder member of OpenMTB. Replicating the grass roots model that has served the British Mountaineering Council so well is the aim. Groups from all over the country like Chase Trails, Bristol Trails Group, and Tyne Valley Mountain Biking have already joined the group and the hope is we’ll eventually pull in groups large and small from all over the country.

What we’ve ended up with is an entirely volunteer group who genuinely want to speak on behalf of MBers countrywide. Because it’s made up of local groups, what it says should be decided by MBers who ally themselves with those groups. Being a volunteer group, most of whose members have day jobs, we’re not going to build an all-singing-all-dancing advocacy group overnight, it’s going to take time. Identifying issues that concern mountain bikers isn’t a problem, addressing all of them immediately is. We’ve already received support from CTC and British Cycling and tentative moves towards a recognisable structure are under way. We’re all active mountain bikers, we think we want what you want, more enlightened rights of way legislation, good relations with land managers of every stripe all over the country, good practice advice for MBers, an understanding of how economically crucial MBing is and a united voice for this ever-growing community. If you like the sound of that, tell everyone you know. If you don’t, tell OpenMTB!

[url=

MTB Facebook[/url]

[url= https://twitter.com/OpenMTB ]Open MTB Twitter[/url]

Who are the 'notable Welsh activists'? Is there anyone from Wales in the sub-group. This is all very hush hush.

I'm in the Wales subgroup, and I live and work in Wales. I also represent mountain bikers on the Snowdonia NP's Snowdon Cycling Agreement Group, and often act as an advisor to the NP. 2 other members of the subgroup also sit on the Snowdon Agreement group, both of whom have done more for mtbing Wales than just about anyone. It's up to them if they want to their names out there or not. Ultimately, we would prefer to be judged by our actions and what we achieve, rather than who we are.

Thanks to all those offering support - it's appreciated!

OpenMTB response to the [url= http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/is-open-access-in-wales-a-possibility/ ]Welsh access consultation [/url]is out. I'd recommend starting with the summary, the full version is quite a meaty read. http://www.ctc.org.uk/campaign/trails-wales

The Open MTB response to WG is probably the most ill informed and generally ignorant document I've read in a long time. As a Mid Wales solicitor with a largly farming client base, mostly hill farms, and as secretary to two commoners assosiations (covering thousands of acres of common land)this document is what I thought and feared it would be - farmer bashing.

This is not the way your going to achieve anything - just going to make people, FUW, NFU Cymru CLA etc. dig their heals in. FWIW I couldn't give a whatsit for the landed estates who are absentee landowners but the impact this could have on those family farming businesses is something else that is just not needed at present.

We ride our bikes around in the mud for a bit of a giggle, it not any more important than that. I am ashamed to be associated, by implication at the very least as a mtber, with the document put forward by Open MTB. It little wonder they are maintaining their anonymity.