The Future of Cycling Facilities in the UK
Story Posted December 6
Source: Dave Cockram, British Cycling’s National Facilities Officer
The Demand for Closed Road Circuits
All sports need facilities to a greater or lesser extent, and the level of provision varies from the simple table tennis table in a village hall right through to Wembley Stadium. Local authorities have always accepted the need to provide sports facilities: the traditional sports like football, cricket, athletics and swimming are all firmly established on the local authority agenda, and are well catered for.
Historically, cycling has not been adequately provided for by Local Authorities, a problem which has been alleviated, to some extent, by cycle racing’s use of the public highway. However, as traffic levels have increased, it has become increasingly difficult to promote smaller events on the public highway and also meet the growing demand for events as the sport grows.
British Cycling has recognised the increasing difficulty of running events on the highway, and whilst the organisation will always fight for the right to race on the roads, it has had to modify the way in which the sport is run to ensure enough opportunities for people to get involved in the sport.
British Cycling is currently in dialogue with Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Home Office about the availability of the public highway at a cost, and level of administration appropriate to “not for profit” volunteer-delivered events, which are making a significant contribution to DCMS targets for health and participation. In other words, methods of running events that minimise the risk to everyone involved or affected, must be found, but at a financial cost that an amateur sport can sustain.
For instance, it is very difficult for a Regional event with 60 riders to generate sufficient income to allow for a full motorcycle escort, whether it is provided by the police or by a civilian escort group. This subject is complex, and not the main purpose of this article. However, the need for closed circuits, although partly driven by the increasing difficulty of providing safe events on the highway, is as much driven by the need to meet the growing demand from people who want to participate in cycle racing.
Closed Circuit racing helping to encourage young riders into the sport in a safe enviroment.
The sport can never abandon the right to cycle on the highway for leisure or competition, but it must recognise the difficulties involved and the need to adapt. The closed road circuit has a vital role to play because it provides a safe environment for new recruits in which to learn the sport and for the regular competition the majority of British Cycling’s Road Racing members need as a basis to their racing programme.
Closed circuit evening races are easy to promote, are generally more financially viable than Road Races and are less demanding in terms of the level of manpower needed. They can provide good racing for large numbers of riders and, if a number of clubs join together, they can generate enough income to offset the risk of a low entry on a wet night.
The income generated can be used to subsidise the cost of promoting road races on the highway, which may have restricted numbers of entries and higher costs associated with safety measures. Regions like the South East and North West already operate this system, and the closed circuit racing programmes in these regions have actually strengthened the racing programme on the highway: motorcycle escort, full marshalling and a race convoy with the right level of vehicle provision are all possible, and the road events are much safer as a result.
Police and NEG motor cycles escort riders on the open road in the Tour of Britain in 2007.
Funding Opportunities and Planning Issues
When building circuits, the major difficulties are centred on funding and planning permission: in addition, once the circuit has been built, its ongoing operation needs to be thought about. The capital cost of building a circuit is relatively low in sports facility terms: a 1km circuit 5 metres wide can be constructed for £300,000, and the costs of wider longer circuits are proportional to the area of tarmac laid, provided that the ground conditions are not difficult.
The main source of funding available to British Cycling is Sport England’s Community Club Development Progamme (CCDP). This is, exactly as its title suggests, a funding stream which concentrates on providing facilities for clubs to allow them to develop into centres of sporting activity for the communities they serve. The targets are increased participation in sport and physical activity, increased numbers of coaches and volunteers and a corresponding increase in the number of events and activities.
It is a condition of an award that a club must become Go-Ride Accredited. All the clubs to have benefited so far, have gone through a rigorous application procedure, involving the production of a sports development plan, a business plan and the achievement of Go-Ride status. Even after the award has been made and the facility is operational, Sport England have a monitoring process to ensure that the project remains on target. The project has to be long-term and not a quick fix: a facility needs to have a future of at least 21 years if the application is to be considered.
British Cycling has enjoyed approximately £600,000 of facility funding per annum for the last four years, thanks to CCDP. However, relatively little of that has been spent on road circuits, because the priority in the first three years was to save as many of our outdoor tracks as possible. The track refurbishment programme is now complete, so attention is switching to closed Road circuits. However, there are other disciplines to cater for as well: BMX has had some major contributions in the last year or so.
Racing at the Richard Dunne circuit benefitting riders of all ages.
Circuit projects which have benefited from CCDP funding have included the rebuild of the Richard Dunne Circuit in Bradford, alterations to the Hetton Lyons Circuit in Sunderland and some improvement work at Hillingdon. With the current round of CCDP funding, British Cycling has built a new circuit in Sefton, at the Litherland Sports Park: funding is also approved for a new circuit in Solihull which will be built next Spring, and for refurbishment of the Salt Ayre circuit in Lancaster.
Outside of CCDP, British Cycling has built new circuits in Shrewsbury and Birkenhead using a variety of funding sources. London’s Hog Hill facility will be available next year, but that is, of course, Olympic related and has come about in very different circumstances to the way most circuits are developed. The Betteshanger circuit, in Kent, is also a bit different: it was the result of the magnificent efforts of a few individuals at local level, rather than by direct British Cycling policy.
Racing at Bettshanger in Kent in 2007.
Realistically British Cycling can expect to open one new closed road circuit a year, given the current levels of funding. This isn’t a bad rate of progress. However the main difficulty is getting circuits built in the areas which most need them. If British Cycling had more money available it could obviously build more, but the whole process isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. You might think that walking into a council meeting and waving a £300,000 cheque would have instant results. However, in many cases the response is decidedly frosty.
Some councils seem to have little interest at all in sport, let alone cycle sport, and at the extreme end of the scale it’s hard to even get past ‘first base’. There are some very notable exceptions at the other end of the scale: Councils like Sefton, Manchester, Bradford, Sunderland, Blackpool, Shrewsbury and Solihull have a very positive attitude to cycling. They have seen the opportunity that a road circuit provides: it allows them to work with British Cycling to develop programmes to tackle education, health and social issues at a very low cost, especially when compared with other types of sporting facilities. These councils often contribute to a revenue package that allows staff to be employed to develop these programmes.
Others councils are keen and willing to talk, but cannot commit with any degree of certainty. Reasons for lack of commitment are usually political, and in this respect the provision of sports facilities is no different to any other local authority function. There is a definite tendency for councils in some areas to look at what their neighbours have done, and want some of the same, and as a result British Cycling finds that facility opportunities are coming in geographical clusters.
There is the question of how many circuits a particular area needs, because the number of riders and, more importantly officials, is a limiting factor on the number of events at any particular venue. Racing is not the sole purpose of a closed road circuit so we should not worry too much about over provision. The important thing is that we follow up as many leads as possible, and members are urged to contact British Cycling, either at HQ or through the Regions, if any possibility arises, no matter how tentative the idea is.
In my role as National Facilities Officer, I get regular calls from British Cycling members to examine a patch of land to determine whether it is suitable for a bike racing circuit, and because the people making the request are enthusiasts and know the sport intimately, the land usually is very suitable from the physical angle. There are many fantastic sites which are perfect for bike racing, but a good site is not even half the story. Which leads on to the next issue, that of planning permission.
If a site has no sporting function already, it can be very difficult to convince the planners that a circuit is a good thing. Issues that come up include the normal ones of environment (newts, trees etc), noise, lighting, restriction of public access etc, and it’s usually obvious from the beginning whether a scheme stands any chance of progress. Schemes in Public Parks, for instance, usually fall foul of the dog walking brigade, or the planners get scared off by the thought of 30mph bike races. The best sites are those that have little or no other use, and these are usually reclaimed waste sites. It is no accident that most of our circuits are on rubbish tips.
Eastway, Scale Hall, Hetton Lyons, Betteshanger, Birkenhead, and even Hillingdon are all on sites that had previously been used as waste disposal sites. It is usually much easier to get planning permission to use reclaimed derelict land than it is to build on a green field site. The choice of site with regard to the ease of getting planning permission needs to be made very early, and there is no point at all in pursuing a site that has little or no chance of being accepted by a council.
Having found a site that is acceptable from both a physical and planning points of view, you then need to think about how the site will operate. There are only a handful of really forward thinking Local Authorities which are willing to revenue fund stand-alone cycling facilities, which inevitably do require substantial subsidises. The solution is to incorporate the cycle circuit into a multi sport environment so that the staffing costs, car parking, changing etc are shared across a number of sports. It works well for road and track racing, but perhaps is not likely to work for MTB because sites are rarely big enough or with enough challenging terrain.
The type of sites that work well are the big multi sport complexes like Shrewsbury and Litherland, Preston Arena, Bradford and Salt Ayre. The Football Associations Sports Village concept is a good one, and one that offers exciting possibilities for cycling. British Cycling is aware of many of these potential projects, but the more opportunities that are brought to our attention the better. Members or local authorities are invited to contact British Cycling with any information about potential multi sport developments in their areas.
Another intriguing possibility is to incorporate circuits into the Government’s Building Schools for the Future Projects, and we are actively pursuing this solution in a number of locations. The BSF project is huge and nationwide, and the new schools tend to be on big sites with large sporting potential. There are bound to be huge areas of tarmac on such sites, an extra 5000 sq metres for a bike racing circuit will usually be insignificant in capital cost.
In addition to the potential for Road Circuits or outdoor Tracks on school sites, schools have been very successfully used for off-road activity and racing such as cyclo-cross and is something that we should continue to pursue at a local level. If we are to successfully see Cycling integrated into the National Curriculum then we need to press hard for cycling facilities to be developed on school sites for curricular and community use. Again, members, schools or local authorities are invited to contact us for further details on the potential for cycling facilities.
The question of revenue funding is inextricably linked to the capital funding to build the circuit. Sport England won’t fund anything that doesn’t demonstrate a secure long term future with a revenue stream that will pay for future maintenance, so unless you can put together a robust business plan, you don’t get the funding in the first place.
Having said all that, CCDP has been a real success for cycling. For the first time we have had a dedicated pot of money that we can direct to facility projects of our choosing. We could obviously do with a much larger allocation of funding to allow a more strategic approach, but additional money is only one part of the equation. As we have already said, the other parts relate to the willingness of local authorities to accept cycle racing facilities alongside their football pitches, swimming pools and athletics tracks, and to the willingness of cyclists themselves to accept the closed circuit as one of the places they race bikes.
Current Position
We have several road circuit schemes on the go at the moment, and we will start with the SE. There is obviously Hog Hill, which should be open for racing next season, and although technically it is in the Eastern Region, many of the riders using it will be from the SE Region. We are currently looking at eliminating the problems of using Crystal Palace in the wet, and hope to sort out this problem for next season.
The new Fowlmeade circuit (Betteshanger) is arguably the best purpose built road racing circuit in GB, and hopefully its usage will increase next season. There is also a scheme at Penshurst which we are hoping to advance next season. There have also been some enquiries regarding a road circuit close to Gatwick airport, but as yet the scheme is at feasibility stage. The strangest scheme is perhaps the plan to turn a section of abandoned highway in Kent into a sports park, with a long length of disused highway available for time trialing and road racing, together with MTB trails and leisure cycling routes.
In other areas we have the Solihull Circuit, which will be constructed next Spring and will provide a much needed closed road facility for the West Midlands to supplement its three velodromes. The Shrewsbury Circuit opened last year at the Sundorne Sports Centre and is used by British Cycling for racing, coaching and development work, and by the local authority for its schools.
The North West is doing very well, with the now oldest circuit in the country at Salt Ayre, the well established Preston Arena, and new circuits in Sefton and on the Wirral. We are also looking at circuits in Warrington, Manchester, and Bickershaw. The Bickershaw site in particular is very exciting because it is huge, and has the potential for long MTB trails in a hilly country park setting, as well as a road circuit and a BMX track. Further North in the region there is a circuit planned for Carlisle, which has very strong local authority support.
Moving across to the North East we have looked at a site in Newcastle which has the potential to provide a really challenging road circuit. There is the Hetton Lyons circuit near Sunderland which we altered recently to improve the provision for youngsters. The Richard Dunne Circuit in Bradford was rebuilt recently, and has developed a successful youth league in its first full season.
Moving further south the Hesley Wood scheme in Sheffield is advancing through the various stages of development, and hopefully we will soon have a wonderful closed road circuit on a huge area of reclaimed colliery waste, similar to Fowlmeade in Kent. The South Yorkshire/East Midlands area has always provided a wealth of cycling talent, but the facility provision in the area is very poor. We lost Nottingham and Leicester tracks, and so far have not been successful in finding a replacement site. Closed road racing is provided by the Darley Moor and Mallory Park motor racing circuits, but we desperately need facilities of our own in the East Midlands.
Moving into East Anglia, we have potential schemes in Ipswich, Cambridge and Peterborough. The Cambridge Rowing Lakes scheme is huge, and provided a closed circuit in a multi discipline sports park centred around a rowing lake. It is progressing through planning and design, but a firm date for construction is not yet clear. Again the demand for facilities in the region is immense, but so far none of the schemes we are working on has come to fruition.
Central Region has the Milton Keynes Bowl replacement, with the possibility of a velodrome on the same site, plus a scheme in Green Park Aylesbury that has the potential to provide a good road circuit.
The South West is not very well provided for, and we desperately need to unearth some schemes in the area. The area has a tradition of utilising disused airfields and other types of military land, but the long term future of these sites is never secure. Any ideas for facilities in the SW will be pursued with vigour.
For Wales the picture is not very encouraging, particularly in the North. After the Rhyll tragedy a group came together to push for a road circuit, and found a site in Colwyn Bay. A great deal of work went into developing the project, but the local authority would not progress the idea to a planning application so the scheme fell by the wayside to everyone’s surprise and dismay.
Scotland again needs closed circuits in its major towns and cities, but so far no solid plans have come to light. There is a possibility of a road circuit on the new velodrome site in Glasgow, and there has been talk of development of a new complex to replace Meadowbank, but the plans do not seem to be well advanced.
Other Cycling Disciplines
CCDP has provided funds for BMX tracks, with a new track at Hetton Lyons, a refurbishment of the Bradford Bandits track and the provision of a brand new track in Platt Fields Manchester. We could quite easily spend all of our CCDP allocation on BMX tracks, the demand is immense, but there are other ways of funding these developments, particularly if a council wants to develop a community based track that is of less than competition standard.
Our primary interest at the moment is to develop tracks with a serious sporting agenda, and leave the more community based tracks to councils as part of their social function. Cycle Speedway seems to be a difficult nut to crack, we have embarked on a couple of major schemes only to have them fail because it has been impossible to satisfy the Sport England criteria. We are continuing to pursue these schemes, and they are still in the portfolio.
MTB has been challenging to fit into CCDP requirements because there are not many clubs with the structure that fits the CCDP template. CCDP also requires something to be built, for instance a track or a club house. However with the growth in popularity of mid week short course MTB racing which can be integrated into a multi-sport / multi-cycling facility by utilising the natural environment surrounding the fixed facilities then we are hopeful that we will see more proposals being put forward for CCDP funding which encompass both Road and Off-Road facility development.
Track cycling has had a good investment from the first round of CCDP, and we have a solid base of track facilities on which to build. We are in desperate need of tracks in the East Midlands, North East, South West and Central Regions, and we will continue the search for suitable sites.
The proposed facility at Leicester
The Future
There are going to be many opportunities that arise over the coming years to develop cycling facilities across all disciplines and in our experience to date those that are most likely to succeed at those that have the drive, passion and energy of local users behind them. I would urge all our members to continually push for facilities at a local level and to get in touch for support.
RELATED LINKS
London 2012: Legacy Facility Update
