Ok, so you might not care there are local government elections later this year, but you should care about this.
The Wellington City Council are asking for submissions on their
Capital Spaces Plan. This is the plan that they use to sort out their priorities in sport and recreation, and that includes the track network.
If you want to see more and better tracks, then you need to make a submission.
It is easy, you can do it online.
Even though the online form has 10 questions in section two, none are compulsory. You can answer just one, or simply leave a comment at the end.
Simply just say something like that you are a mountain biker, and that you want to see Wellington continue to be a great place to ride.
The Club's stance is that overall the plan is pretty good. There is good support for mountain biking throughout the sections of the plan.
However, we'd like to see the council:
- recognise Wellington's track network as a major asset to the city, and it needs more, not less, investment to realise it's potential.
- supporting informal recreation like mountain biking along side formal sports
- looking to increase the amount of land available for recreation, particularly tracks. The club is particularly interested in areas on Watt's Penisula (Miramar north of the Prison) and the availability of any land that could be opened up for track development to the north, between the CBD and Tawa.
- investing and providing more support for the areas of the council that we work directly with, such as the Ranger team. We can do more if we have more access and support from the council.
- doing more to promote the trail network. It is rare to have such quality trails so close to an urban area. More people using the network, should lead to more investment and more tracks.
This plan hasn't been reviewed for a number of years, and it may be many more before it is again, and it will set what gets money and what doesn't for some time to come. So take 5 minutes and fill out the form online.
