It's giving the rest of us a bad name!
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/councillor-says-aggressive-men-proposed-20832363
Apologies for clickbaity title but WTAF? It's a new reason for NIMBYism on me.
If you’ve got adults there, and there will be a lot of adult males, and you have children, we know the problem of checking people. They have to be checked because of dangers to children
All that sort of thing has to be considered because it could be really quite serious, and you never know it could end up children being molested, goodness knows what.
I think it will be mostly male and probably quite aggressive males at that
I also did a little LOL through gritted teeth at the 'It's not me saying it, but some people are' defence for another horrible view.
It’s quite a step on from kids possibly being intimidated by better riders to kids being molested. Wtf!
I generally find most bike park type places quite welcoming of most people that go. Yes there probably are more men / boys at this sort of place, but more women / girls are starting to go and being encouraged.
I know it’s not a paid for site, but Leeds Urban Bike Park had a great vibe when I went there. The pump track by the cafe was majority kids - about a 50/50 split boys / girls. The bigger track next to it with jumps was probably slightly more male orientated but not by a lot.
Just Nimbys - taking it too far with their comments. Seeing more and more of this nonsense.
NIMBYism knows no shame.
I've been accused of many things (e.g. cycling two abreast) but I have never been accused of being an aggressive wannabe child molester.
I'm actually pretty pissed off by that.
Wow.
I can't work out if thats blatant sexism, crass stupidity, genuine ignorance of anything outside their own cosy little bubble, wilful belligerence toward the bike park or the desperate thrashing of NIMBYism clutching at any possible excuse to get what they want.
Either way its pretty offensive and low. It doesn't seem like that Counsellor is a fit and proper person.
She's only saying what other people are thinking, apparently.
I know as a councillor you're supposed to represent your constituents views but is there not also a control where you are supposed to tell your constituents to stop being knobs.
It doesn’t seem like that Counsellor is a fit and proper person.
Fits right in among a significant number of politicians then. Equal blame to media who prefer controversy to credibility. Mutual relationship.
She may need to consider the other side of the coin that the kids are going to the park because they feel safe amongst that community, or even to escape abuse at home.
That Jimmy Savile fella loved a bike ride... makes you think.
You watch, this will be on gbeebies in the next few days, getting some of the gammons worked up (some of the others will be furiously trying to work out where their nearest bike park is)
The ridiculous comments from Councillor Wiltshire start from about 1.48, for those interested.
desperate thrashing of NIMBYism clutching at any possible excuse to get what they want
This.
NIMBYism knows no shame.
I hope, and suspect, that those comments will actually be counter productive, people will will more engaged and supportive of the park then before just to shut her down.
Bike park crew should invite her down to meet and greet, do a grovelling apology photo op.
Safeguarding is a legitimate concern of course, but she couldn't have picked a worse way to express those "other people's" worries.
Christ, I tend to follow my kids down the trail. I had no idea people might be thinking I'm chasing them!!
I hope they ban these new-fangled locomotives as well, before they cause any women to miscarry as they pass
Just found a photo taken at that bike park the other day:
The ridiculous comments from Councillor Wiltshire start from about 1.48
Jumped to 1:48, no sound on. Some very uncomfortable faces 😆
This fella's face does this for a good minute
Christ alive, how do people like that get anywhere in life under the constant threat of adult males being allowed to freely (and aggressively) roam around.
Haven't watched all of it, but Cllr Stephen a,,,, 's wife (i assume) seems to have her head screwed on with some genuinely sensible things to say about providing the facility etc.
Spurious Nimbyism grabs the headline doesn't it, the nuance of any discussions gets lost.
The Zoom recording is interesting, the councillors Who spoke up after the "molestation" worrier made much better points around safety, the condition of the track, considerations around it's location and the scope of consultations. They mostly seemed keen to keep the track and improve on it as a resource for the local community, of course most weren't clutching their Pearls and shouting about "Child molestation" so it doesn't make the (local) press.
The general gist of the discussion was, what can be done with a ~decade and a half old track to improve access, safety, affordability and ecology as well as funding constraints...
I thought that too.
Needed a bit of Jackie Weaver I thought…
Christ, I tend to follow my kids down the trail. I had no idea people might be thinking I’m chasing them!!
When you follow them down the trail, do you have the Benny Hill theme playing in your head?
....if you didn't before you will now.
The Zoom recording is interesting, the councillors Who spoke up after the “molestation” worrier made much better points around safety, the condition of the track, considerations around it’s location and the scope of consultations. They mostly seemed keen to keep the track and improve on it as a resource for the local community, of course most weren’t clutching their Pearls and shouting about “Child molestation” so it doesn’t make the (local) press.
Which, despite the way a lot of people on here like to think local councils operate, is actually how the majority of them tackle the majority of local issues.
People on all sides are guilty of blinkered opinions
Please stop molesting children while out bike riding
Well, I'll try, but no promises
stop molesting children while out bike riding
Would make an unusual Strava challenge that one
When you follow them down the trail, do you have the Benny Hill theme playing in your head?
….if you didn’t before you will now.
🤣
Councillor Partridge?
Hmm, interesting. I'm looking for a career change.
Has anyone here successfully made the jump from Software Engineer to Professional Homosexual?
I thought about it, but decided that sometimes it's best to keep things as a hobby
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Surely this is celabrating professional Bisexuality rather than Homosexuality...
I might slap there arse next time I ride past them just to prove I like the adult sized version and not the little ones.
This is very poor reporting.
Clearly (IMO) Cllr Wiltshire's comments were entirely unfounded nonsense, and they're obviously going to offend people. Being charitable, possibly she was trying to represent a resident's concerns and it came out wrong, who knows.
But the article leading on that one daft comment is obscuring a whole lot of reasonable concern and valid debate.
There may be a question to be asked about the council's future duty of care/safeguarding responsibilities if the bike park is run this way, but it was lost in the swirling pit of irrational garbage.
Normally Scrutiny Committees have the more level-headed lot on them, you can see the rest of them sighing inwardly.
The slightly bigger picture here is that the site in Ranmore Rd was given to MTB/BMX'ers to create a jump park in 2002-03 as nobody wanted anything to do with the space. Just getting to it was a nervous affair, being chased by dogs, run-ins with the threatening neighbors etc.
As part of the dirt jumps work a better track got put in and what was a bit of the town that no-one really went to due to grief (or fear of) from the nearest residents, it started to get used again, the long forgotten allotments were reinstated, the millennium orchard which was abandoned in 2001 🤣got revived, now they're crying over loss of nature and safety to kids by a potential MTB park.
If only they knew 🤦♂️
The slightly bigger picture here is that the site in Ranmore Rd was given to MTB/BMX’ers to create a jump park in 2002-03 as nobody wanted anything to do with the space. Just getting to it was a nervous affair, being chased by dogs, run-ins with the threatening neighbors etc.
Seems fairly common to place skateparks in dodgy areas, presumably because they get less objections. Makes using them somewhat risky and not because of child catchers, more a case of just getting beaten up by drunk teenagers.
if you don’t want to pay for something, whipping up a frenzy about peados is a good way to put people off.
this would be a great project for a local club and volunteer labour.
It's about 200 yards from a primary school. Plenty of the parents take their kids out of school and down to the track if the weather's good. Our two did their first jumps and learnt to ride berms there. It's a great facility (thanks to @Crankslave up there and lots of others who volunteered, as wellas the original group who kicked it all off with Mole Valley Cycling Forum), even with a terrible surface and one usable line out of at least half a dozen.
Why the surface and one usable line?
1) The contractor who delivered what should have been high quality dirt to the site delivered builder's rubble, so the surface is studded with broken ceramics, shards of glass and concrete chips. the contractor walked away with a nice cheque and the council didn't call them out on what they'd done.
2) for a very long time the council didn't cut back brambles, leading to the other lines getting overgrown to the point of being completely lost in the scrub.
this would be a great project for a local club and volunteer labour.
Completely agreed. But between previous actions which have driven off committed and skilled volunteers, and the comments of Councillor Wilshire, quite a lot of people have been put off.
I was on my regular Wednesday evening Dad ride after the comments came out about aggressive cyclists and predatory males. I can tell you it's put me off working with the council if that's how I'm viewed. For context I did a fair bit of trail advocacy in the area before children, have worked on drainage and litter picking at this track repeatedly in the past, and I've got DBS clearances to volunteer at our children's school and for the local Cubs and Beavers packs. I'll happily take my kids to the track when they ask, and our neighbour's children too, if they want, but I'm now thinking twice about getting involved in any work on the track. That probably sounds a bit hysterical, but I don't like being treated as a random threat by some crusty old politician.
That probably sounds a bit hysterical, but I don’t like being treated as a random threat by some crusty old politician.
Having been at the wrong end of plenty of idiotic nudge nudge comments about why I might choose to help out with our lads Scout group, I take the view that if you walk away from a group that needs help because of someone else's stupid prejudices, then you are gifting them a win. Please reconsider.
Everyone knows it's the recumbent cyclists that are the real perverts 😀, you don't get many of them at bike parks.
Having been at the wrong end of plenty of idiotic nudge nudge comments about why I might choose to help out with our lads Scout group, I take the view that if you walk away from a group that needs help because of someone else’s stupid prejudices, then you are gifting them a win. Please reconsider.
@moredashthancash you make a good point. I might need to reconsider.
I second @morecashthandash
Places like this need decent people like you so others can enjoy it. Don't let people like you like that councillor put yo u off.
Not surprised at all at those comments, ever tried getting a skatepark built!?! Done it once or twice and have friends how have done/tried it too and its always met with "oh it will bring drugs to the area", "it will cause anti social behaviour", "it will bring down the area". People hate change and are scared of stuff they don't understand. Person that made those comments is an absolute moron.
always met with “oh it will bring drugs to the area”, “it will cause anti social behaviour”, “it will bring down the area”.
Whereas it will actually give young people a focus to get away from those sort of temptations, but prejudice often overrules logical thought
Safety in numbers as opposed to being out alone in woods.
If you need medical assistance your mates will be there to phone an ambo
The big kids look out for the little kids
The kids have somewhere to burn off energy, get fit not fat, great for mental health
Groups of youth will challenge any potential wrong uns, whereas a someone alone might not
Gives a sense of belonging, esp if digging dirt jumps, like a club but without dictatorship
Right got the hump as this whole debacle despite all of the efforts of Nick and co keeps getting derailed by the idiotic woman Lisa Scott.. now getting a plinth to about from of the Road.cc Jack Sexty.. he's only gone and legitimised her lies with his "Lisa tells us what's really happening"... https://road.cc/content/news/campaigner-explains-opposition-bike-park-takeover-284219
The bloke didn't reach out to anyone, to understand what's going on... Who is this tool, do you think he's still got Lisa's head shoved up his anus spuffing away at the thought of a councillor giving him a story?
While it would be wonderful if this area could be maintained for free by volunteers and sponsors, the reality is that after nearly 10 years, no on has the time or the resources to polish this turd.
It's a great area with masses of potential. I've had fun there. My kids (5 & 7) have both had fun there. Plenty other families ride there and if the brambles were cut back, jumps reshaped to something more flowing and surface groomed (bad choice of word) to remove the pottery, yes,lots more folk would make use.
Personally, having done some volunteer time there, I have no issue with a private enterprise coming in. I'll happily pay the subs for my lads to go when they want.
The council don't have the money and if they did, in these weird times, sadly it's better spent on health, accessibility, transport infrastructure, policing and so on.
Mole Valley got the thing started and as has been mentioned, before that it was a fly tippers ghetto wasteland.