[Closed] Petitioning your council

The council will probably have someone whose job it is to create/develop facilities for 'kids'. Approach them first.

You'll need to be more specific than just "bmx/skate and general cycle facilities". Bike lanes are very different to skate parks. Decide what you want, get a group of like minded people together, get in touch with the council.

A petition should be the last thing to do, after you've tried just asking.

Get in touch with you local councillor too. You're much more likely to have success if you can persuade a councillor to help represent your views. Also find out who the councillor with responsibility for sport and leisure on the cabinet is and see if you can meet them. Getting elected members involved means the council is much less likely to get defensive.

Theres the rub, the guy who coordinates the cycle facilities is frankly uninterested (he comes in to our shop and he quite friendly but not very active)
We specifically want a BMX/Skate Park thats worth riding to start with (we have a couple of half pipes scattered around but none of them have much else or much room in them- for example the fun box in Victoria Park has a run up of 15-20foot max and a run out the other side of about 30 foot to grass.)
We have a large group of skaters and bmx'ers in the area and I feel we should be giving them more facilities.
Another example would be Bryn Bach PArk in Tredegar , they have a 8 lane BMX race track there built by Jason Carpenter, its a superb facility but doesnt get anything like the use it should due to its location.Im not saying they should'nt have it but a City the size of Swansea should be boasting better facilities than we have.

As for just asking, there was a previous group called S3 who asked repeatedly but just faded away in the end due to the apathy of our local cycling officer. I hoped that maybe getting the parents of the local kids to support it then maybe the council would be more likely to listen.
I'll get in touch with the officer again and see what can be done.

ta

Are there any new developments going in? Getting something built by the developers is often how Councils get these things in (they can make it part of the planning permission). Darlington got a rather smart 4X track this way.

Cllr Graham Thomas is the bloke you need to talk to, he's the responsible cabinet member. If you can get the councillors on board then the officers will (generally) do as instructed...

I've just fired off a mail to the local officer so will see were that goes first.
JaceFace you local? i'll get on to Mr Thomas next I think.

cheers for the help so far

No I'm not local - but I work for a council so I know how they tend to work. Good luck!

Sometimes I wish councils would just go away and 'help' somebody else...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pete.meg/wcc/facility-of-the-month/index.htm

Pinch points, and cycle lanes that are too narrow to cycle in, are just an accident waiting to happen ¦:-)

the big thing for all councils, including the one i work for is funding, the council dont mind maintaining the facilites its just the inital spend to get it up and running

I recommend telling them that you will fund raise to maybe 50% of the total build cost, that would encourge them

there are many considerations in this I work as a land designer for a big council and last time somthing like this landed on my desk the big issuse was security and how to stop it becoming a hang out and drinking area for low-lifes

Just out of curiosity, which shop do you work for Spev?

Hah, sorry forgot to check back to the thread, been ill.
I work in Schmoos, mostly handling the web and ebay stuff, and general dogsbody 🙂

Friend of mine spent a couple of years trying to sort a 4x track out, then lost the land. We currently are looking at joining a consortium developing a disused school. He got as far as getting allocated a 20k grant from the council provided they could raise another 30k through other means. British Cycling were on board I think, plus other relevant bodies.

I'm involved with a new Bmx track in Wales and it's hard work even though the council have been willing to give land and some money.

Firstly councils don't just hold land to give away to needy causes. It has a value and all councils are required to properly manage their resources for the fiscal well being of the council.

Try and find some worthless land ( initially steering clear of land with a pollution problem) because that will give the Council less problem offering for social use than land it could build industrial units on.

Next form a club or group and get active members.. petitions are a waste of time, despite what has been said elsewhere most councils struggle to find money for ongoing maintenance on facilities, Where as capital money through grants to build new facilities ( up until current economic woes) has been more readily available if your project sits in an area subject to some kind of social economic deprivation that the council is trying to eradicate. It is more likely a good project around social inclusion with training / equipment loan for disadvantaged youngsters will both attract funding however few councils will hang onto such a facility and pay to run it as they do not have the money.You will then need a business plan for how the group can organise activities and events that will generate revenue or bid for further grant funding to find the money to maintain the facility.

As much as they are worth not much talk to Welsh Cycling and ask if they are working with local councils as they may already have a door open they helped a lot with ours, Find a deprived area ask about moneys that it has available to grant fund a bmx track. Landfill tax can help and we were able to ride on the back of a planning gain from the creation of a new recycling site on an old landfill site meant the council had a lot of spare earth to move , and needed some kind of public recreational facility to get planing approval in a plot of land adjacent to one of the poorest housing areas in Wales. The whole thing was officer driven but it was important the politicians were got to support at an early stage before any potential opposition to the track chose to lobby them for support to stop the whole thing. It was not easy because politicians these days avoid taking responsibility for anything that might turn controversial or money loosing as it looses votes

our biggest problem is with no ready made bmx scene we have been unable to get a group of riders to take over the running of the track which is now jeopardising whether it happens in the end.

Brings you back to the problem of petitions most who sign one will not wag a finger if then they have t ogive physical support to get it... these things are not just built and opened.. when they were we had the rash of white elephant bmx and skate parks back in the 70's

I'm off to a meeting with the local cycling officer regarding making our local dirt jumps more official and while I'm there I'm going to enquire as to the status of the other facilities. There is already a large patch of land allocated to the dirt jump area and i'm sure a bit could be sectioned for a pump track, i'd like an outdoor velodrome as well as I think it ties in well with BMX racing.
Will update when I get more news though.