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In Hampshire, there are many thousands of keen off road cyclists, of all abilities from family to racer. As we have no big trail centres other than a few unofficial forest trail spots, most of our riding miles are done using the existing off-road trail network through our countryside. Mostly these are bridleways and tracks, many of which are in poor condition due to vehicle use or just simple neglect. Signage is very degraded and missing in many cases even on such iconic routes as the South Downs Way. 
While councils hold the legal title to these trails they have no obligation to maintain them nor these days any budget. Much of what maintenance there is comes from voluntary efforts or individual community grants.

Hampshire Trailwatch has been formed to provide that encouragement, working with HCC and other local councils to initiate improvements to the trail network and provide feedback on planned changes to help get the best decisions for users. It is also working with the Forestry Commission on some new trail building initiatives in Hampshire. 

Members of Hampshire Trailwatch are directly supporting the bridleway network and other trail development. This may be simply by your membership fee or by a small donation to our funds. These funds are destined for delivering 

  • signage improvements to the best local loops with named routes
  • matched funding for trail repair and improvement in conjunction with the small grants scheme

You may want to be a more active member and get involved with us talking to local council officers to identify potential upgrades from footpaths to permissive cycle trail , new trail opportunities with landowners and any other improvements to the available routes. We are already working actively with HCC and Surrey CC to progress some ideas in this area and open connections to support better ride loops. Finally, we are working with the Forestry Commission at Alice Holt Forest on some off-road cycling initiatives. Full members of Hampshire Trailwatch will be part of the planning team for this development and have the chance to make a new trail centre in Hampshire a reality. This will not be easy. particularly getting funding for building top quality trails but the reward will be a permanent central trail destination within easy reach of many fine riding spots which understands riders requirements, even night riding. 

 The FC management are very enthusiastic about this project and keen for local riders to be involved and make this project their own and this is a rare opportunity. 

 We also already have some advice and guidance from 

  •  Seven Stanes
  • British Cycling
  • CTC

to help us design the best trails possible for this site and provide a really fun venue for local riders along with all the comforts that riders love. 

So, how can you contribute to this?

 Please purchase your ‘local rider’ membership sticker which is only £2 and all this money will go into funding the projects just explained. If you feel motivated then add a donation of any amount as well. It all goes into your local trails. As a member you will get your Trailwatch sticker to display on your bike showing that you are supporting your local trails. You also can nominate local loops for signage projects and vote on route names that will be on the signage. 

As a thankyou to new members we have arranged that you will get some perks  

Those ‘local rider’ members who wish to take an active part should come along to one of our monthly meetings and see which projects take their fancy. Getting involved is as easy as that.  

If you want to go the whole hog you can take out a ‘full’ membership and that will get you all of the above and an invite onto the planning team for the new trail development project. This team will be working with the designers of Scotlands famous Seven Stanes trails to design the best funnest trails for this project. They will also be involved in putting together a substantial funding bid and managing the building project.