Mountain biking in Rivington

WHERE and how mountain bikers should be allowed to enjoy their sport is the subject of much debate in forums and local blogs.

And now nearly 100 people have joined a Facebook group called Save Mountain Biking in Rivington.

The Friends of Lever Park have an animated post and comment on the subject this week. One writer, James Hillman, posted:

Whilst I understand that some of the illegal routes taken by mountain bikes are causing damage and are potentially dangerous I believe that a programme of dedicated bike trail building in some lesser used areas of wood and moorland (e.g. wilderswood, moses cocker plantation, the plantation between the school and wilderswood or healy nab) would benefit all by providing challenging terrain for the bikers and spreading the impact on the moor sensitive and over-used area of the park.

Another said:

I’m sure that cycling around the park and other areas of Rivington Estate have been enjoyed since the early part of the last century, and mountain biking is a progression of that activity. It is an area that naturaly lends itself to mountain biking, however, what we have to consider here is ‘revenue’. I don’t think it too strong a statement to say that United Utilities currently fail in there attempts at effective park management. I agree that they could and should carry out work to create an effective mountain biking course as you suggest. But they won’t, because there is no mileage in it, more importantly, there is no revenue in it. Shudder the thought that UU should do anything that wouldn’t in some way feed the ever hungry shareholders. They continue to profess that they need to commercialise to fund park management. They are a multi-national company of unbelievable financial proportions, if they can’t afford it, God help us all.