Cliff path bike trial finishes at month end
A TRIAL to allow mountain bikes to use certain sections of the cliff paths has been a great success, but uptake has been lower than expected.
It was announced in November that Guernsey Mountain Biking Association had been given permission for a four-month trial on two sections of cliff path in St Peter’s and Torteval for night-time mountain biking.
GMBA secretary Mark Smith said the mountain bike trial had so far been successful, although there had not as much take up as had been anticipated.
‘We will be holding a wrap-up meeting with E&I at the end of the trial and we will discuss next steps after that,’ he said.
‘Although 120 licences were issued, of those only 55 have actively used sections, with around 80 to 90 rides completed. As the weather improves over the last weeks of the trial we anticipate we may see more riders.’
He said that so far the association had been sent no negative feedback and that interactions with members of the public on the footpaths had been generally positive.
‘However, disappointingly signs that will be removed at the end of the trial have been defaced and kicked over,’ he said.
He added that feedback from a midpoint survey of the cliff paths had shown no erosion and he had personally walked the area every other week to check.
At a meeting in November La Societe had requested that should there be two consecutive nights of very cold or wet weather, the association would cease using the paths for two nights, so as to enable affected species to build up their ‘fat reserves’ again, and Mr Smith said members had adhered to this appeal.
‘This happened on two occasions and we sent messages to our members not to ride and there is no indication our members did not respect that request,’ he said
An Agriculture, Countryside and Land Management Services spokesman confirmed that the trial was due to end on 29 March.
‘Until that time we would encourage people to provide feedback on the trial to the Guernsey Mountain Bike Association by emailing guernseymountainbike@gmail.com,’ he said.
‘We will evaluate the trial once it has finished which will include reviewing the feedback received and surveying the cliff path to see if there has been any damage caused.’
