Trail building proposal approved by the NPDC Parks Dept.

The trail building proposal that was submitted to the New Plymouth District Council's Parks Dept at the end of June has been approved.

The first set of trails is scheduled to be constructed by using NPDC approved contractors (Southstar Adventures Ltd http://www.southstaradventures.com/) to build trails in the northern area of the forest that has recently been logged, see the yellow and magenta trails below. This work is planned for the week commencing 21st July. Cross fingers for fine weather!

The funding to pay the contractors would initially come from the Transit NZ compensation money received in 2001, currently held by the NPDC in its suspense account. Any balance would come from the club's current account. Application has been made to Ground Effect for assistance from their slush fund.

The plan also outlined the future trail building requirements at the southern end of the park during the summer of 2008-2009 that will depend on the outcome of the new District Cemetary consultations. Plus in the longer term, replacement trails for the area to be logged mid 2009 (Dress Circle/Samurai Set back south to Thomas's tracks).

The club hopes that these successful negotiations will also lead onto to a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the club and the NPDC regarding the long term trail development, promotion and maintenance of the mountain bike facilities at the Mangamahoe Forest.