Tarland in Aberdeenshire has secured £750,000 funding to get to work on building an all-new purpose built trail centre.
Good news for mountain bikers this week as construction is imminent on an all-new purpose built trail centre facility has been given the green light for Tarland, Aberdeenshire.
Read the full press release below.
Investment of £750k into North East Scotland’s mountain biking facilities has been announced today (Tuesday 29th April 2022) including £350k from Scottish Enterprise and £300k from sportscotland’s & Scottish Cycling’s joint Cycling Facilities Fund, to allow work to start immediately to create Tarland Trails 2.
This is a landmark investment to meet the growing market demand from people keen to access the sport. The project, led by Tarland Development group, will provide a purpose-built range of trails to develop mountain bikers of all levels. The investment will help grow participation and help clubs develop future mountain biking athletes and is a key step towards delivering the region’s ambition to be a destination of choice for the fast-growing adventure tourism market.
The storms across the winter of 2021/22 have had a huge impact on many homes and businesses across Aberdeenshire. There is a growing number of businesses whose livelihood depends on visitors and locals being able to access mountain bike trails. This was recognised by the steering group of the North East Adventure Tourism partners Opportunity North East, Scottish Enterprise, VisitAberdeenshire and Scottish Cycling, through its department Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland, secured £350k for the project from the Scottish Government.
The funding recognised the impact of last winter’s storms on the area and the increasing economic importance of adventure tourism for people and communities in the area. The funding helped unlock £300k of National Lottery investment from the Scottish Cycling/ sportscotland Cycling Facilities Fund to support the project’s participation and sport development aims. The full funding profile has been complemented by existing fundraising by Tarland Development Group along with private donations.
The National Cycling Facilities Fund was established to build on the growing interest in cycling by developing a network of accessible facilities to encourage people of all ages to ride bikes and enjoy the sport of cycling. It will also deliver a tangible benefit as part of the wider policy objectives driving the forthcoming 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, which will take place in Glasgow and Scotland bringing together the 13 existing World Championship cycling disciplines into one event for the very first time.
