I’ve just watched some wharncouver videos on youtube and it looks like Scots pine plantation with partially intruded broadleaves to me, not sitka, scots pine is a native species although this is outside the scots pine ‘zone’.

cyclelife no offense but if you’re involved in the negotiations you should pay heed to sr0093193’s post, put your grown up pants on, do some reading about the many official/legislative aspects of this kind of situation and get serious about this if you’re hoping to get anywhere.

I have no idea where the trails are but here’s an AWI map http://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ancient-woodlands-england/data?geometry=-1.58%2C53.441%2C-1.519%2C53.45

Go and ride CyB and keep off stuff you haven’t got the skills  for.

Yep. Or have a look, assess the risk for yourself, and don’t bleat if it goes wrong and you get hurt.

I haven’t got the skills for anything like most of the stuff in wharncliffe, so it’s just not my type of riding.

Now, this is all very well, but there are a couple of things that cut against this ‘grown up’ attitude.

Firstly, what if a rider with all the necessary skills gets it wrong and they cannot get themselves out? If the emergency services are called in, the shit will hit the fan sooner or later.

Secondly, what if a rider with life insurance suffers life-changing injuries and the insurance won’t pay out unless fault is found?

We are too far down the line with stuff like insurance.

I don’t have the answers, but I doubt it is a good idea to piss the FC off in this instance.

I’ll leave the negotiating to the more erudite around here.

In the future I’ll continue to ride in Wharncliffe wherever  and whenever, as thousands have done over the past 30 odd  years, with as far as I know, no claims against the FC.

Sounds to me it’s not the riding that’s the problem but the trail building. I hope that the few don’t spoil it for the many. The on line vote will have been a waste of time if the attitudes to the FCs concerns don’t change.

I’m sure anyone who has built a trail in FC woodland at some point has had a feature or features they spent time building knocked down.

They don’t like features. End of. To them they are a safety hazard. Love or hate this attitude they are responsible for the place and those who use it so they get the final say.

I learnt this the hard way so now only build trails with minimal to no built features. Not ideal but at least the trail stays.

They even have a ” wild trail” policy which if you read it correctly kinda tells you how to make sure your trail will just be left and monitored rather tha<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>n destroyed. This is the Scottish one but same applies here in England I’ve found.</span>

https://www.dropbox.com/s/95goykedtn07ejg/FCS-Wild-Trails-Essential-Guide.pdf?dl=0

It’s always a shame to see someone’s hard work and fun trails destroted but it’s inevitable on FC land unfortunately.

Yes Tracey I’m sure you’re correct, but what is trail building….

More work for the lawyers!

Latest update looks like the decisions made

https://www.change.org/p/forestry-commission-england-save-wharncliffe-mountain-bike-trails-ee354cb6-9acd-4a22-b986-d58066114526/u/23530638

Sad, sad news…

https://off.road.cc/content/news/wharncliffe-woods-trails-flattened-by-forestry-commission-3022

Cheers!

I.

Same old sh…stuff that’s been going on for years in many parts of FC Yorkshire. Even the relatively tame Wharncliffe XC trails that were started maybe 14 years ago with official FC collaboration quickly fell apart due to the lead trail builders’  (Simon) frustrations with FC. Who can work with people who basically wish you’d go away, because they just see you as a hassle beyond their basic job description. The only reason why Gisburn happened is because someone within FC North West actually wanted it to happen and made it happen. It’s basically down to motivated individuals within FC and historically at Wharncliffe he/she doesn’t exist, so you may as well forget it until maybe one day there is a forester employed who is up for it, willing and mtb proactive. That’s just my personal take on it, Just seems you need to have a human rock within FC or just basically forget it and do something else. Carry on building crazy stuff school holiday kids, you’ve got nothing better to do and it gives the forester something to do.