£1.1MILLION CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR CYCLING PROJECTS IN SCOTLAND

Bikes are awesome right? They help us relax, have fun, socialise, discover new places, commute, participate and progress in sport. Scotland already has so many great places to ride, but there is a need to continue to develop more facilities in Scotland to help many more people discover cycling as an activity to last a lifetime.

The Cycling Facilities Fund, which is open to clubs, education establishments, local authorities or leisure trusts, charitable organisations, community sport hubs and community organisations, has been made possible through a £4million commitment of capital funding from Scottish Government and £4million of National Lottery funding from sportscotland.

This significant investment in infrastructure is being delivered through a partnership between Scottish Cycling and sportscotland, will make cycling accessible to more people and help provide a pathway for riders wanting to progress at all levels of participation.

We decided to take a closer look at one of the projects to be awarded funding through the cycling facilities fund so far – Fort William Bike Park.

The development was awarded £290,000 as a strategic hub project – a multi-discipline facility that meets a range of outcomes. The Fort William Bike Park will include a pump track, BMX park and trials area, and will be within safe riding distance of the current trails which have hosted downhill, cross country, and enduro events. The facilities will be linked via a network of cycle paths.

Based next to Lochaber High School, the facility will be accessible by safe routes to school. There is a range of partnerships already in place to ‘activate’ the facility for use by the community - West Highland Wheelers cycling club, Active Schools, primary and secondary school, Lochaber Environmental Group, and West Highland Colleges School of Adventure Studies.

These partnerships will help run sessions for people from communities across Fort William and the wider Lochaber area while new leaders will be trained up, to ensure as many people as possible can access the new facility and the sport of cycling.

Lochaber Wheeled Sports Society, which is the community organisation behind the plans, also want to include an onsite bike recycling and maintenance scheme, run by Lochaber Environmental Group. The idea being that a supply of bikes would be available for people who do not have access to a bike of their own ensuring that the facility is accessible to more people and removing barriers to participation.

All of the facilities awarded funding today, still have a long way to go, and will be looking for support from local communities to see the projects through to fruition. If you can get involved with a successful project in your area, please do, and let's spread the joy of cycling to every nook and cranny in the country!

Congratulations to the following successful projects in Round 2:-

• Transition Extreme New Pump Track, Aberdeen, £50,000

• North Berwick Pump Track, East Lothian, £50,000

• Lochore Meadows Whitewood MTB trails, Fife, £49,466

• Middleden Mountain Bike trails and skills area, Fife, £100,000

• Bellahouston Park Cycle Hub, Glasgow, £100,000

• Cathkin Braes Cycle Hub, Glasgow, £145,800

• Pollok Park Cycle Hub, Glasgow, £100,000

• Lochaber Wheeled Sport New Bike Park, Highland, £290,000

• Abriachan MTB Trails and Pumptrack, Highland, £50,000

• Auchterarder CSR New Pump Track, Perth & Kinross, £50,000

• Getting Better Together Shotts New Pump Track, North Lanarkshire, £50,000

• St Philips Neighbourhood Safe Cycling Tracks, North Lanarkshire, £50,000

• Cumbernauld Centurions BMX Track, North Lanarkshire, £58,559