'Bike track would stop kids digging up woodland'
BBCThe man behind a petition to have a bike track built in Oswestry has said it would stop young people from digging up nearby woodland to build jumps.
Theo Merchant said that not having a dedicated track meant children and young people were building their own and "getting a lot of backlash from locals".
A resident living near Llwyn Coppice, north of the town, said up to 100 children and young people were regularly using the area for cycling, which was "unknowingly destroying ancient woodland".
The nearby Iron Age hill fort has also been targeted, with the nationally important archaeological site vandalised in March by people digging jumps.
Former Oswestry town mayor Olly Rose told Shropshire Council that Mr Merchant's life "was saved" at the age of 14 by a skatepark near his childhood home, in Wolverhampton.
Shropshire Council has been asked to hand over land next to Oswestry leisure centre to the town council so a specialist track for bikes, scooters and skateboards can be built.
Mr Merchant, who works in one of the town's bike shops, said cycling was very popular with children in the area, but it lacked somewhere safe for them to ride.
"How has Oswestry not got a pump track when Shrewsbury has got six and other smaller towns in the local area have better facilities?" he asked.
"Local kids need somewhere to ride, they need somewhere safe to congregate and build their confidence and social skills."
His petition, which has been signed by 423 people, was discussed by a Shropshire Council committee last week.
A local resident spoke during the meeting about "thousands of bluebells being killed off" by young people digging or riding their bikes through Llwyn Coppice.
Daisy said: "They're doing this because they've got nowhere else to go. They're continuing to expand [the tracks] and new kids keep turning up so it really would be sensible to give them a place [to ride]."
The committee generally supported plans for a pump track and recommended that the councillor in charge of assets at the Liberal Democrat run Shropshire Council explores options so a land transfer could take place.
The two-hectare site was retained by Shropshire Council after the adjacent leisure centre was built in 2011.
Planning permission was granted the following year for a BMX track, picnic area and multi-use games area but nothing materialised.
The renewed campaign has the support of Oswestry-born elite downhill mountain bike racer and cycling coach James Anderson.
He runs a mountain bike club at The Marches School, which he said was oversubscribed.
"It's limited to 10 pupils but there is demand from nearly 50 kids," he said.
"There are so many kids riding in Oswestry, but facilities haven't kept up with the pace.
"They need something based here locally so they don't have to travel to access it."
It is estimated the track would cost at least £100,000, which the town council plans to fund through the sale of the former Smithfield market site more than a decade ago.
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