1,000 signatures reached
To: Aileen Campbell, Minister for Children & Young People
Support the SKELF Bike Skills Park in Edinburgh's Southside
Please sign our petition to show your support for taking this neglected inner city woodland in hand, cleaning it right up, and creating an ace, free to use, and open access bike skills park!
Why is this important?
We want to create an open access bike skills park in the heart of Edinburgh, making mountain biking accessible from within the city.
Our site is an area of neglected woodland wedged between the Southside area of Edinburgh and the Western boundary of Holyrood Park (immediately adjacent to the Crags Community Sports Centre).
We want to build:
- An 800m Blue Graded MTB Trail looping through the woods (for beginners, younger kids, and cycle proficiency)
- Red Graded Skills Development Features (located along the Blue Trail)
- An awesome Pump Track that will be great for developing skills and improving technique
But we are doing way more than just creating a cool new bike play space:
We are also cleaning up a potentially lovely but badly neglected woodland and turning it back into a green space that everyone, young and old, will actually use, spend time in & enjoy. Specifically we are:
- Cleaning up all the rubbish, dog mess etc
- Getting rid of all the needles so the woods are safe again for kids & dogs to play in again
- Planting 200 new native species & fruit trees
- Installing 30 bird & bat boxes
- Installing new benches & rubbish bins
- Improving footpaths for dog walkers & runners
After four years of hard work we have:
- Planning permission
- A 25 year lease for the site
- 80% of the funding
- Loads of support from local people, organisations and businesses!
Once up and running, the woods will also be a great community resource for local Eco schools & forest school projects, for young people to achieve their JASS & John Muir Awards, and for led walks by park rangers plus interpretive guided tours.
So why is this so important?
Learning to ride a bike gives young people great confidence, and an ability to access and explore the outdoors independently, which often goes on to benefit them throughout their adult lives.
Young people often can't do this in safety on the street because they are too congested and dangerous to learn on. The danger of future generations slipping into sedentary lifestyles is also well documented.
Sign the petition & help us make the SKELF Bike Park happen!
For more info or to get in touch:
Website: http://theskelf.org.uk/
Twitter: @skelfbikepark
Facebook: SkelfEdinburgh
Email: [email protected]
