Massive sell-off of Forestry Commission land in England
GhallTN6
Posts: 505
So if you had the money would you buy some of it, and what would you do with it?
I can see it going one way or the other.. "private property - no access" or "£5 per bike per trail"
RSPB will probably buy some of it and strip it out to create heathland as they have with a wood near us (as well as the no-access signs).
I can see it going one way or the other.. "private property - no access" or "£5 per bike per trail"
RSPB will probably buy some of it and strip it out to create heathland as they have with a wood near us (as well as the no-access signs).
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I'd live in it, and hunt people. Walkers, bikers, doggers, the lot.
Then I'd mount their heads on the wall of my log-shack.
Of course, I'd need to practice my deep-south stereotype accent first.0 -
Welsh Deliverance lol
I'll be Jon Voight
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I'd like to buy whinlatter. Wonder how much it will be?A Flock of Birds
+ some other bikes.0 -
I wouldn't mind if they added the right to roam, that way it really wouldn't matter.
But as it is I see the loss of a lot of access and a lot of great bits of woodland making way for housing etc.0 -
If sites like Whinlatter, Grizedale, Cannock etc are bought out and run privately you can pretty much guarantee price increases.
At the moment you can ride most trail centres for free if you avoid the on-site parking.
Either parking fees will go through the roof (although £6.50 for a day at Whinlatter is already blimmin high), or you'll be charged at the trail head per bike or (heaven forbid) per circuit ... or summat daft like that.
On the other hand, I don't mind paying for riding a well-maintained & well-facilitated trail centre.
The worst thing about this is if people are priced off the trail centres they'll just wither away and disappear as everyone goes back to riding natural trails...0 -
shm_uk wrote:If sites like Whinlatter, Grizedale, Cannock etc are bought out and run privately you can pretty much guarantee price increases.
This is why I like being in Wales. CwmCarn parking is free, whereas at whinlatter its like £5 for the day :shock:
Plus theres a massive pile of money going into trails down here which will be ace
If I had land i'd probably keep it fairly private or manage the numbers that are allowed to ride there... just because i'm a selfish bastard.0 -
Anyway... Once I'd caught someone who looked like they were flush, I'd hold them ransom.
Then with the ransom money I could buy diggers, chainsaws, and slaves, to create some awesome trails.
And some paintball guns.
and some guns :twisted: 0 -
I hear a banjo playing.
I also hear Centerparcs getting its cheque book ready.
Imagine the crowds at those centres that do survive at peak times. As long as we can all still afford it that is!
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this is crappy news.... however if NUT Lube does well i'll buy all the forests and turn the UK into a giant bike park. All anti-bike idiot's will be burned, and everyone will be employed by HOPE.I like bikes and stuff0
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Does anyone remember when Snowdon was up for sale?
I'm sure there was a jokey thing in MBUK about getting all it's readers to donate some money so they could buy it.
I'm still gutted that they didn't take it seriously, I mean, £50 from each reader, would surely have been enough money to buy it 0 -
not a bad thought Yee, we could set up a MTB charity organistion to preserve forrestry land...
Donations in and see where it gets to :P we could buy some acres
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yeehaamcgee wrote:Does anyone remember when Snowdon was up for sale?
I'm sure there was a jokey thing in MBUK about getting all it's readers to donate some money so they could buy it.
I'm still gutted that they didn't take it seriously, I mean, £50 from each reader, would surely have been enough money to buy it
approx 50,000 readers (?) x 50 = 2500000. If al the mags teamed together... 150,000 readers x 50 = 7500000 - 7.5 million. Totally enough to buy a decent forest, and a few trails. with some donations from wealthy pro's and some volounteer labour....I like bikes and stuff0 -
That's the thing though, 2.5million would have been more than enough, it went for a stupidly low price. About a million, I think.
Well, DUH. Are you actually suggesting that you think some of my ideas are half-arsed?Thewaylander wrote:not a bad thought Yee... 0 -
wait there.... you can buy small islands in the pacific for that much.... we could build a "mtb island"!!! and get a fleet of private jets taking riders out there for free. If the island has a decent surf spot out front, that's a bonus!!!I like bikes and stuff0
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See, if MBUK HAD bought Snowdon, most of Wales would be facepalming, thinking
"how did we let this happen" as massive neon signs are put up declaring "SNOWDONLAND" flashing incessantly all through the night, Rob Warner crashing hire cars left right and center, and everybody using the words sick, rad, gnarly, and "stoke factor" in everyday conversation.
Meanwhile, I'd look out of my window at the amazing neon mountain, and cry a little tear of happiness that I had some small part in bringing this chaos into reality 0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:See, if MBUK HAD bought Snowdon, most of Wales would be facepalming, thinking
"how did we let this happen" as massive neon signs are put up declaring "SNOWDONLAND" flashing incessantly all through the night, Rob Warner crashing hire cars left right and center, and everybody using the words sick, rad, gnarly, and "stoke factor" in everyday conversation.
Meanwhile, I'd look out of my window at the amazing neon mountain, and cry a little tear of happiness that I had some small part in bringing this chaos into reality
It would be PARADISE!! A new Utopia if you will!
man.... why the hell didn't we buy it?! I can just see S.Peat and R.Warner stumbling out of a bar at 2.30 am with wonky elvis wigs... and jumping on the gondola for a night time "sesh". Everyone would be "stoked" all the time. and houses would be built of anodised stuff, and windows would be made of titanium "cuz its light" and carbon flowers would adorn the hedgerows. Oh, and the neon lights would be EVERYWHERE!
*looks wistfully into middle distance*I like bikes and stuff0 -
Hmmm,
SO it looks like rights of way will be protected and so on but more a change of management to the land, So it shouldn't be able to be a block of flats or what ever.
And the probability of a private land owner/company, financial ymanaging the land better than the goverment is high, as the goverment is not known for particularly clean finacial processes.
Down side if the land owner is a money grabbing monkey then even if he manages the land better could charge a bomb on parking, It's very much the unknown.0 -
Certainly would have livened up Llanberis. Mind you, Llanberis folk don't like change.
They were offered once, for FREE, that the old quarrying slag heaps could be turned back into fruitful forestland, lovely green everywhere.
They almost unanimously said NO!
:roll:0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:
Certainly would have livened up Llanberis. Mind you, Llanberis folk don't like change.
They were offered once, for FREE, that the old quarrying slag heaps could be turned back into fruitful forestland, lovely green everywhere.
They almost unanimously said NO!
:roll:
Stuff Llanberis! (well, no, its actually an OK town...) When Warners bull dozer moves in, no-one says no!!!! I like bikes and stuff0 -
Thing is I'd been wondering about this.
Wondering about buying some mountainous forest and building a trail centre, but how would you make money from it, given that
It goes without saying that you'd need a shop selling food, drink, & spares. Maybe this would be a temporary job like the busses at a few places, but to make the best of it you'd want a permanant structure - even if not from the off.
Building a trail its self would take time & money.
Parking has already been mentioned, but so many people are scabby and park off-site that you cannot guarantee any income from parking. IF parking was free and there was a donation box you can guarantee again that there would be little donated as people will rarely pay if they can get off scott-free...
:?:0 -
(cough) parking is free on most FC land, the parking thing is there as a donation thing only.
sssssssh0 -
I don't want to invoke any anger but surely there is a positive side to this as well?? Llandegla is a privately ran forest, has great facilities, yes the trail is currently weak but surely thats a good base model for anyone wanting to buy the FC land??
How do we know that any future buyers might not put money into new trails and develop MTB'ing even futher? I know its the great unknown but it could swing ether way.0 -
I still think we should team up to buy a mountain. Maybe we could buy the isle of Man?I like bikes and stuff0
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Who says the trails are weak at Llandegla? There's a reason it's one of the most popular places. They've even opened a host of new sections in the last year. Not too shabby considering they nearly went bust over last year's incredible winter.lm_trek wrote:I don't want to invoke any anger but surely there is a positive side to this as well?? Llandegla is a privately ran forest, has great facilities, yes the trail is currently weak but surely thats a good base model for anyone wanting to buy the FC land??
How do we know that any future buyers might not put money into new trails and develop MTB'ing even futher? I know its the great unknown but it could swing ether way.
The forest is owned by UPA, and Oneplanet pay them for the privilege of using it, I think. It certainly shows there is another way to do it, without FC support.0 -
Well go back and look at the article i linked from the official web site gang.
It's useful. The land shouldn't be used for building at least, and keep rights of way. Its just a price thing as i said before, And private industry has always managed to run things at lower costs/ or more effiecently than the goverment.0 -
Llandegla isn't a proper trail its a fun run, no real challenge and black shouldn't be a black. Its a great place to go for a fun day out but no real challenge. I accept they have new bits opening, but when i went about 4 weeks ago half of the old trail and the new trail was closed and there was no notices or anything on the website, it did appear the day after we visited, so for me at that time the trail was weak.
Im hoping to give it another chance soon, as im told the completed red run is open? or due to open so will come back and have a go.
I was just stating that a privately ran trail and center can be the way forward and we shouldn't look at the doom and gloom of selling FC land off.0 -
lm_trek wrote:I don't want to invoke any anger but surely there is a positive side to this as well?? Llandegla is a privately ran forest, has great facilities, yes the trail is currently weak but surely thats a good base model for anyone wanting to buy the FC land??
How do we know that any future buyers might not put money into new trails and develop MTB'ing even futher? I know its the great unknown but it could swing ether way.
Llandegla works because it's a commercial forest, so they make money off harvesting. It's also funded by FC on occassion. I'm not an expert, but I don't think every forest can be used for harvesting.0
