IN DEPTH: The threat to MTB trails & infrastructure in Wales

The lifeblood of the UK cycling industry has an artery where a stream of rich red blood, or perhaps slick brown mud, powers our progress. Where Europe leads on urban trends, the UK mountain bike scene has generally been far more advanced for decades. Why? We would argue it’s down to the hard graft breeding creativity. Where Europeans have an abundance of big mountains on which trails naturally form, those of us on this side of the channel have had to pick up a shovel and create to get airborne. We are an island where the imagination of the mountain biking scene flourished in spite of our climate, in spite of our generally more mellow terrain and, as our well-established gravel bike scene will attest, also because after a while of riding on often hostile roads in much of the UK the woodland trails and fire roads pull like a magnet.

Nowhere is this trend more established than in Wales. It’s the destination bored Brits in much of the south to mid-section of England head to in droves to really get the adrenaline going. The trails to the west are just better, bigger, bolder in their design, and as a result, they’re a massive boon to Welsh tourism. Cafes, bike coaches, hotels, bike shops, and many more businesses are all beneficiaries of the
steady stream of bike riders headed for the bike parks and trail networks of Wales. But these businesses now have a major headache in the form of budget cuts from Natural Resources Wales, widely reported to have a budgetary black hole of around £13 million, though some estimates have run as high as £20 million.

Natural Resources Wales has significant control of all outdoor visitor sites in the country and with this budget shortfall, there exists significant concern that the thriving Welsh mountain bike scene is at great risk. That’s the risk of visitor centres closing, the risk of trail networks quickly falling into disrepair and of course, there have been job losses galore.

One source Cycling Industry News spoke with suggests says that 250 roles are on the chopping block with most notified in November 2024. At least 150 of these were existing roles, with the remainder made up of culled vacancies.  The carnage is unlikely to stop there, with the aforementioned economic beneficiaries of the cycle tourism now facing a shortfall in potential customers as word gets round that the
trails are falling into disrepair.

Robin Grant is the Founder and Chair of the UK MTB Trail Alliance and a Trustee and Director with Cycling UK. He has found himself a coordinating member of a multi-organisation fightback that has already gone to the Senedd with a call to make sure budgets for mountain bike trails do not suffer a full-scale cut.

He explains: “The NRW plan is to save £12 million in the budget for this financial year and so they have outlined a plan to prioritise things other than recreational activities and focus largely on core activities. That leaves us very concerned about the future of Welsh mountain bike trails. There is no suggestion that they are going to proactively close trails, but of course they will deteriorate and quickly be forced closed. We are already seeing this happen in lower footfall areas of what is an approximately 550km network of signposted trails in the country. Afan is already seeing entire sections closed, in theory temporarily, but little is forthcoming
about timescales for reopening. Mountain biking trails seem to have ended up far down the list of priorities.”

A few record-breaking storms blowing through the region at the end of 2024 and start of 2025 have greatly exacerbated the decline of the network and with trees littering trails and erosion washing away routes there is already a severe dent in the
riding appeal of Wales with only uncertainty about a timeline for revival. Naturally, passionate riders want to get on with the job themselves, but this is not a solution the authorities are happy to progress.

Grant says this is a symptom of heel-dragging on the issue: “We have seen examples now in Brechfa forest where the NRW have discovered the public using their own kit to clear dead trees, but this is only happening because they are dragging their feet on the required work. We don’t encourage people to take matters into their own
hands, of course, but it does happen. Why is it happening and what is the root cause? This is the question. We would love to get rid of the internal red tape that stops volunteer groups working on trails, which would be to the Government’s benefit. The Trail Collective in North Wales has for last two and a half years sought an agreement with the NRW to bypass red tape and take on maintenance. I’ve only seen success on this front in Brechfa Forest to date.”

Politicians have apparently taken some interest where high footfall locations have posed questions. A debate in the Welsh Senedd in January was pitched as a challenge to the apparent NRW trail maintenance cuts, but ended up focusing instead on the closures of visitor centres. This, feels Grant, has hijacked the news cycle and taken the focus off the broader network.

Another local bike industry insider and cycling advocate, who in this case did not wish to be named for concern of souring the chances of building bridges to a solution told CIN: “31 March sees staff out of work and the visitor centres closed indefinitely. The claim is that NRW are working with local service providers to take over the running of the sites, but as yet there is no proof of this and the one local community group I spoke to claims NRW are simply not engaging with them. The wider concern is what about the trails? NRW claims to still be maintaining them, but at what level of priority? How important will some random MTB trail be to them when there is no money to be made for them at that site? The fear is that this is the beginning of  the end for Welsh trail centres.”

A stark warning and one that the bike industry hardly would wish to hear in the current climate, but galvanising support behind the pushback at this stage is exactly what this local hopes for. There are, after all, numerous organisations fighting against the cuts and seeking a solution. Among these are Cycling UK, Beicio Cymru (formerly Welsh Cycling), the UK MTB Trail Alliance, Mountain Bike Wales and the Wales Adventure Tourism Organisation (WATO), along with over 90 other groups, organisations and businesses. Add to that over 90 bike shops, a tally that the collective would love to see grow with the support of readers here.

Challenges have persisted in driving progress, so says our source, who adds: “Beicio Cymru and MB Wales set up a mountain bike steering committee last summer. The resultant committee has been deafening by its silence. The MTB industry gathered to kick it off and I, like many I have spoken with, now feel we wasted our time at that meeting as nothing has come of it. The closures should have propelled that group into representing the industry but instead, we’ve seen nor heard a thing from them.”

As before, this is an issue that has become everyone’s problem. That is everyone with an interest in the economy surrounding cycle tourism. “The wider issues for the industry are much more than fewer riders equating to fewer bike and kit sales. It’s local campsites, B&Bs, cafes, ride leaders, training groups, and event organisers.
All in the dark. Run Coed y Brenin cancelling all 2025 events has really brought this fact home. This, as I understand it, was purely as he (the organiser) has no way of knowing what trail access or facilities he can offer beyond the end of March.”

Will business go elsewhere? Our source said that in reviewing their own schedule the answer has already become clear. “I have recently been planning my 2025 ride and run event calendar and it shocked me when I realised that 90% of them were in Scotland. I went back to look for more in Wales and there are very few left. Coincidence? Not in my opinion, whatever that is worth.”

WANT TO LEND YOUR SUPPORT TO THE EFFORTS TO KEEP WALES MOUNTAIN BIKE SCENE ALIVE?
Those wanting to pitch in should sign up to the newsletter at www.ukmtb.org to be kept abrest of developments and calls to action. If you do business in Wales, or live locally, it is asked that you also write to your member of the Senedd expressing concerns about the defunding of the trail network. Furthermore, a crowdfunding effort can be pitch into at wwww.gofundme.com/f/helpus-to-protect-your-trails