Didcot Mountain Bike Park

Hi all, a small update and a call to arms!

1. I am still working on a project for Didcot but have given up on the traditional bike park idea due to the lack of suitable land. I am now focusing my efforts on a professional pump track with additional jump line (similar to that at Edenbrook country park in Fleet). I have 2 sites in mind for this and the new campaign now falls under the remit of the Oxfordshire Trail Association (OX Trails). I have buy in from Town Councillors and have been tasked with putting together a proposal to present to the Town Council which I will be working on over the coming months.
2. OX Trails are now fund raising to raise the start up costs it needs for it's operations. More info can be found here https://gofund.me/b70cf0e0. Please help us by donating what you can and sharing our fund raising as far as you can with your riding groups.

Thanks for your continued support.

Hi all, please see a post on the Facebook page in relation to some possible dirt jumps in Blewbury

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077031347003

I need to now try and get the word out there and raise the overall profile of the bike park - I may need to demonstrate in future that there is a real need for this bike park. This petition goes some way to show that but an active Facebook page will help. It would be particularly great if those local to Didcot could get on the page. It's great that this idea has got support from further afield but the councillors will want to know there is a more local need and that the park will have a core of more frequent local users.

Hi all, it dawned on me that although I set up a Facebook account for the bike park I never set up a dedicated page! I came off facebook a few years ago for personal reasons so I'm trying to remember how it all works! The location of the new page is here https://www.facebook.com/Didcot-Bike-Park-108503815050761. It would be great if as many people as possible that have signed the petition could like the page, share it etc etc. I am now putting all updates on this Facebook page so make sure you follow it to stay up to date. There is an update on there from this weekend ;)

Hi folks, small update for you. As you can imagine these things move slowly but I met with David Johnston recently who is keen on the idea and helping with enquiries into a potential site I have in mind. Councillors from the neighbouring Parish are keen too, which is helpful as they own some of the land around here. We're meeting soon to discuss. So not much to say but I am beavering away at it in the background.

In the mean time I have finally set a Facebook page up for the bike park, to use primarily as a blog but to also get the name out there a bit. Feel free to look it up, add it, share it etc. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074081574730

Please continue to share the petiton on your socials - lets see if we can hit the 1500 milestone and beyond! For now, stay safe and keep riding!

Hi everyone, I thought I'd write a quick update on the project. I presented the idea to the Finance and General Purpose meeting on Monday. To date, I still haven't had any feedback from the Council so my objective was to just get approval. A number of Councillors were interested and engaged in some discussion which was nice, however it was made clear that the issue of land is going to be a major challenge (too many greedy developers with deep pockets). However, they like the idea and 2 Councillors have contacted me since with ideas and strategies about how to progress the idea. So overall it was positive as I have caught the attention of a few Councillors and I now have more lines of enquiry to investigate. There is still a long way to go and many hurdles this idea can fall at but the idea is still alive at the moment and I will continue to give it my all until the idea is dead!

Hi all, just a brief update - the Town Clerk has identified a site and is working to secure the site. There's lots to be done before the site is secured but many of the parties involved are interested. In the mean time the idea is going to another committee meeting on June 21st for discussion. While I'm here, how many of those that signed would be prepared to join a volunteer group? If it came to it and the only way I could get this approved was to build it with a team of volunteers how many would be willing? Message me via the petition or comment here to let me know. No personal details being kept, just a tally.

Hi everyone, I've been invited to present the petition next Monday at a council meeting. Thank you so much for your support so far. Please do keep sharing around and let's try and present as many signatures as possible!