Mountain Bike tracks in the Port Hills are being destroyed. Rocks and other natural features are being removed from trails by council staff and volunteers. Smooth alternatives to most trails already exist, not to mention entire bike parks such as bottle lake for less experienced riders.
I would like to know what specific steps will be taken in regards to the ongoing maintenance of existing MTB tracks and the development of new tracks for novice and experienced riders.
Further more I would like to know what system of consultation will be implemented so that the actual users of the trails are consulted before any action is taken.
Tony
Candidate Answers
Candidate
Answer
Tony, you start out by making a statement that something is being destroyed. Before answering your question therefore, it is necessary to ascertain whether that is the case or not, and then if so whether it is a problem. As a hiker, I do not go mountain biking and therefore do not see the problem per se.
Hi Tony,
I admit to not really knowing much at all about the tracks on the Hills, other than I have a number of friends who enjoy them very much. I do think that having a graduated scale of tracks from beginner to experienced would be a good idea and support in principle maintaining the challenges riders such as yourself enjoy. I imagine that if we severely curtailed the level of difficulty on our tracks we would cease to be a desirable destination for world class riders and would find it hard to develop our own.
As for consultation, The People\'s Choice: 2021 and Jim Anderton are campaigning on that particular issue and you might want to look at Jim Anderton\'s policy on People\'s Forums here.
I am quite happy to sit down with you after the election (or before if you like) and determine how best to consult with the people who actually use the track, as I don\'t want to presume to know more than I do.
Regards,
Paul McMahon
The People\'s Choice: Labour for 2021
For Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board
Hi Tony
My understanding is that Council staff work along side and consult with MTB clubs who also supply the volunteers who are mountain bikers and members of various MB clubs and organisations. And this is how the Council stays in touch and consultates with the users of this area and MB\'s in particular.
If this is not happening or not working I would be interested to know, as one of the most important positions I am standing on is consultation with the community which I feel is being lost or run poorly. Consultation can only be messured by how someone or an organisation acts on the information it has recieved, we are judged on how we act..
Hi Tony,
The Port Hills Masterplan is a strategic document that aims to document all the various uses of the Port Hills and coordinate the activities like track maintenance better than the current situation.
As you are probably aware, the mountain bike tracks up the hill are a bit of a labour of love presently. I have found that the latest tracks are better built with multiple skill levels in mind which hopefully will reduce the degree of self-modification by riders. We do need to cater for lower skills levels on this side of town and up the hill but as you point out they need to learn to ride the track as is and not modify it to suit themselves. I think better signage would help people understand the changes in difficultly along a track as well as generally across the track.
Your concerns sound quite specific and I wonder if you have called the council staff or volunteer group to discuss them? Which track(s) are you particularly interested in? I would be keen to hear your ideas on how to improve things up there?
Regards,
Mike
