Details are released glentress-masterplan

Ah well, no money for the rest of SoS then.

Is this the end result of the £5m funding bid for the 7 Stanes that we were surveyed about last month then?

Surely not?

49 pages in the masterplan document and from what I can see it seems to be suggesting building a cabin site and some landscaping. Need another read as I suspect there is a lot more to it (or there should be!)…

Need another read as I suspect there is a lot more to it (or there should be!)…

building a cabin site and some landscaping.

It mentions a new access road to the top carpark in the linked page, a and a few new bridges that alone will swallow about 90% of the funding.

All new visitor facilities too (Shop/cafe etc.) . Didn’t see any new trail plans which is what i was looking for mind.

16km of new trails.

I can’t help feel that building a bunch of cabins on the site will change it fundamentally. Low rent CentreParcs?

Weren’t the cabins planned a few years ago? They were gonna be glamping accomm around where Zoom or Bust is IIRC?

Or are these different cabins?

Isn’t this just the one from a few years back where they’re flattening they freeride park and Zoom or Bust, then building a load of chalets?
From memory they were building a new skills area at the Peel car park and maybe a new blue descent.

Edit: too late , but at least I was remembering correctly.

*fist bumps Clubby*

Hopefully a clued-up local will be along shortly to clarify matters further.

cabins are good. Good because Airbnb is often bad for communities, and loads of visitors that just rock up, ride some trails and leave also are not helping the cause for sustainable MTB in the valley. Cabins will provide accommodation for all kinds of visitors (including bikers) that doesn’t absorb housing stock, while allowing for people to stay and spend which provides jobs for people in the valley.

Reminds me of when they “improved” Glentress with the current facilities and didn’t allow the amazing Emma and Tracy to stay. Best post ride bacon rolls and coffee ever in that there portacabin.

It’s “progress”, and I am possibly a curmudgeon… 🤠

Is this the end result of the £5m funding bid for the 7 Stanes that we were surveyed about last month then?

Surely not?

As said above, this announcement is unrelated to the recent survey / potential funding bid.
This announcement was originally made five or six or more years ago. I remember riding the Glentress 7 at the time and there being a general feeling that it would be pretty much the last time zoom or bust could be ridden. Then nothing happened for a couple of years, then Scottish government made a big announcement about putting money, I think £1 million, in to it as part of supporting rural economies or some such. then nothing happened again. I personally assumed that it had been shelved or abandoned but apparently not!

From what I remember before, it was mostly building a load of chalets where the freeeide area & buzzards nest car park is now. A new freeride / skills area was to be built next to the cafe alongside an extended green / blue route also at the bottom of the hill.

sas78
Full Member

Reminds me of when they “improved” Glentress with the current facilities and didn’t allow the amazing Emma and Tracy to stay.

From memory they made a complete arse of their bid and were turfed out accordingly.

Anyway, yeah this is the plan the kicked off a few years back:
– Flatten current freeride/skills area
– New road up
– Chalets
– New freeride/skills area at the bottom

Moving the skills area to the bottom of the hill makes a lot of sense to me. No issue with the cabins either. Just hope the work doesn’t drag on too long as I imagine we’ll lose trails before gaining any

IIRC I think that the cabins development was supposed to fund (or help fund) the new trails and facilities. FLS has previously emphasised that replacement trails would be put in place before existing trails are removed so hopefully that will still be the case.

Relocating the main jump trails to nearer the visitor centre and the road has been a goal for some time I think.

Its the same old project that was proposed years ago- new visitor stuff and freeride skills area at the bottom, new blue, red black and “natural” descent on the hill behind the FC building and the holiday cabins. Buzzards carpark, berm baby berm and zoom or bust likely to vanish along with the existing skills and freeride areas.

The cabins are Forest Holidays, similar to Strathyre- quick look at the web suggests £2k+ for a week..

In theory, great- but I’m not convinced by moving the skills area out of the forest itself, and I wonder if this will also kill off the new Glentress Uplift service.

Maybe I’m just being too cynical in thinking that the 16km of ‘new trails’ may just be them making the unofficial trails official and adopting them into their trail network…

Fairly sure all of the new road work that the black spits out on (Ponduro road) was for drainage and access as a starting point for this master plan but could be mistaken!

We’re there not also shops to service the chalets so no need to take hard earned cash and spend it in the town.

stevemtb Free Member
Maybe I’m just being too cynical in thinking that the 16km of ‘new trails’ may just be them making the unofficial trails official and adopting them into their trail network…

That was definitely not the plan, they’re getting a trailbuilding company in to design and build the new trails and some of them will be going down the hillside near the visitor centre that FLS only acquired a few years ago.

The DMBinS post mentioned Back on Track putting the new trails in, is that Rowan Sorrell’s firm?

The DMBinS post mentioned Back on Track putting the new trails in, is that Rowan Sorrell’s firm?

Yes indeed; was originally supposed to go ahead in the spring of 2021, before the contract collapsed due to issues between the Scottish Government and the overarching contractor who had apparently become somewhat greedy (Balfour Beatty if I remember correctly?)

The loss of the contract had a major impact on Back on Track; not only had the company invested vast amounts of time and effort into surveying and designing the trails and negotiating the details, but had scheduled in the work and bought additional plant in preparation, the fallout left staff without work (or updates) for months on end.

However, hopefully lessons have been learned and the newly rebranded On Track can put their experience and expertise to good use

If it’s done right it could be a net gain but it does all revolve around losing the perfect “hub” that is the buzzard’s nest. Which is the bit I just don’t understand, it surely can’t be the only place the cabins could be put? It’s got a road to it, but the plans seem to involve rebuilding that anyway. And it’s not even the nicest bit of the glentress forest.

But yep there are plans nailed to plans here, the building of a new skills area is massively overdue, and relocating the jumps to the bottom would be a big positive both for family access, and for ambulances.

To me it feels like it wouldn’t take an awful lot of changes to make it really good news, but instead it’s probably a fairly even mix of good and bad.

What it’s definitely not, is sucking up money that was supposed to go elsewhere but I know there’s little chance of convincing anyone of that.

It’s pretty awesome as it is.

Seems like a total waste, why not just add a load of cabins next to where there are already cabins and fix the potholes in the road that already exists?

Maybe add a swimming pool, showers and other facilities next to the cabins to make them more popular.

If it’s done right it could be a net gain but it does all revolve around losing the perfect “hub” that is the buzzard’s nest. Which is the bit I just don’t understand, it surely can’t be the only place the cabins could be put?

That’s the bit (well, one bit) I’m struggling with too – the buzzards nest area is awesome, just hanging out there for a snack or bit of lunch with the kids is great. Bikes everywhere, folk mucking around on the ‘box’, etc. I jokingly made the comment its the true reincarnation of the old ‘Hub In The Forest’, but it’s somewhat true.

It’s a big forest. **** off and locate the cabins in another part of it.

If there’s any change leftover can Mabie get a new hose for the bike wash?

Not much on the planning portal maybe new trails. But nothing on new roads etc. So it’ll be a fair while yet unless it goes through with a little help. But I’d say the sepa and ecological surveys will be extensive.

I don’t understand killing off Buzzards Nest either, the only thing it needs is a toilet block, maybe a roll/coffee van and it would be sorted.

Presumably the existing cabins and camping are a seperate entity? If not why couldn’t the hill above them get built on? They could put hook ups and waste points in whilst they’re at it.

It does explain the broken, never repaired bits of the Freeride area though. It does need a refresh tbh.

Relying on vague memory here, but were the new cabins to be installed and operated by an external provider? And were they more like luxury chalets than basic pods?

They’ll have had to make it an appealing proposition to their commercial partner, hence the prime site.

I’m sure many of us will have mixed feelings as we ride up past these new holiday places though.

Where will the new skills area be then?

Yup proper cabins rather than camping pods. Can’t remember the proposal (sure someone will dig it out) but I’d imagine the normal trails will skirt round the accommodation areas.

New skills area will be beside the cafe. Makes much more sense to me, and will certainly help business at the cafe

The new cabins are Forest Holidays, definitely more luxury chalets than pods.

Forest Holidays

Reminds me of when they “improved” Glentress with the current facilities and didn’t allow the amazing Emma and Tracy to stay. Best post ride bacon rolls and coffee ever in that there portacabin.

I remember them, real shame they didn’t stay on.

Also reminds me of the CyB upgrade where they removed the old small cafe on the Redbull side and replaced it with a soulless motorway service station on the other side. I can see why they wanted something larger, but the old one was lovely and the new one is just meh….

I don’t understand killing off Buzzards Nest either, the only thing it needs is a toilet block, maybe a roll/coffee van and it would be sorted.

It makes a lot of sense from a business perspective. The bottom of the hill has those facilities already. It has a visitor centre already.
Move the skills area etc down the hill, you reduce traffic going up the road which makes it easier to maintain & better for non car users.
You keep more users at the bottom of the hill where they’re more likely to spend some money in the cafe etc. that they don’t when they’re at buzzards’.
Parking up at Buzzards is often terrible because people are unable/unwilling to make the climb up so they abandon their cars, moving the reasons to be at Buzzards down the hill fixes that too.
Litter, bins, etc all move down the hill where they’re more readily dealt with.
The cabins don’t need any of the additional facilities you mention so there’s no need to site them near them and there’s no need to build them.
Access to Buzzards Nest is already there for construction traffic.
Once the skills area etc have gone it can be more readily landscaped and made to look pretty for the cabins. Access to those once finished is already there so doesn’t need a new road junction and all that that entails.

squirrelking Free Member
Presumably the existing cabins and camping are a seperate entity? If not why couldn’t the hill above them get built on? They could put hook ups and waste points in whilst they’re at it.

I think that the existing camping pods at the bottom of the hill are indeed a separate entity, I maybe that land is owned by a farmer who saw an excellent opportunity to make more money off it.

I think that generally a lot of the land above the existing camping pods isn’t part of what FLS owns – the edge of the forest is very close to the walking and MTB trails there. I think that a lot of the funding for this whole project comes from the leasing income FLS will get from the company running the cabins, so they need to be on FLS land.

From memory they made a complete arse of their bid and were turfed out accordingly.

Was it not that they were realistic but the FC at the time went with the proposal that promised more income? Which didn’t happen, and so the tender moves on every 2 years to another average provider.

Anyway, I’m sure that’s been done to death elsewhere.

Was it not that they were realistic but the FC at the time went with the proposal that promised more income?

The FC provided the numbers iirc, they put in their own. They probably were more realistic but you can’t just ignore the brief and expect it to go well

You’re right though, been done elsewhere and we’re now dangerously close to being told how good the (small, damp, good luck getting inside any day you need to be inside) portacabins of The Hub used to be

Looks very disappointing to me. It’s clearly about extracting money from families and not that interested in mountain biking. I will stick to the off piste and riding in inners

Can’t figure out where a new, presumably tarmac, road will go to access the chalets.
Presumably the trails will be away from the chalets too. So berm baby berm and the ones down to skills loop possibly surviving. Riding traffic and chalet traffic will need to be separated so the long road drag up to the bench at the bottom of spooky climb?

Can’t figure out where a new, presumably tarmac, road will go to access the chalets

I’d be very surprised if it is tarmac, I’ve been to a couple of the forest lodges sites and they’re not at those, can’t see this one being any different.

Riding traffic and chalet traffic will need to be separated

No more than it is currently, there will be less traffic to the chalets than the carpark too.

Given that the existing access road is often closed during winter when it’s snowy or icy, that would limit access to these new cabins. Unless they are going to build a tarmac road that can be gritted or allow a snow plough

Is that because they can’t keep it open or just don’t bother though Bob? Currently they’ve no reason to keep it clear I should think. (there’s also the road up Janet’s brae which, oif the other sites are anything to go by seems more likely, They prefer to keep the entrance separated, stops the great unwashed tailgating through the barrier and the like)