If you value your local trails, want to improve relationships with the landowner and riders, and reduce tensions with walkers or horse riders, this one’s for you. There’s a new UK Trail Project survey taking place right now designed to do just this, and it wants to hear from you to build a picture of the UK’s trail networks – formal and informal.

There are three surveys you can fill in, depending on whether you’re a rider, a trail builder or a land manager, but the idea is the same for all – to figure out what people want from the land we ride on. So whether you ride some of the best natural mountain bike routes in the UK, or you’re a bike park rat, it’s time to have your say.

The Surrey Hills has some of the UK’s best riding, but its proximity to London means conflicts with other trail users aren’t uncommon

“The first step… [is an] audit of the current number and position of trails, trail groups and associations in each country providing a deeper understanding of the current challenges and opportunities to improve the management of the trail network,” the UK Trails Project says.

Last year we reported on the formation of the new project, headed up by the UK’s first ever Trails Manager, Dave Evans. It’s a three-year role sponsored by SRAM and the idea is to learn from the success stories across the UK. That starts with learning what we’ve got out there, and what we all want more of.

Take the survey and the Trails Report can build up a picture of the UK’s network of trails, and how they’re being used

UK Trails Project Survey

You can access the rider survey here, and it wants to know where you ride and why you head there. It’s also trying to figure out where the tensions lie with landowners or other trail users, if any, and if there are ways to mitigate this conflict. This will form part of the ‘Right Trail, Right Place, Right People, Right Time’ report the UK Trails Project will put together first, before trying to make things happen.

“We would like to thank riders that came along to the workshops we hosted across the country to help shape this survey,” Dave Evans said. “We are now inviting riders, trail builders, trail associations (constituted and non-constituted), those managing trail centres/ bike parks and land managers from across the UK to complete the online surveys to tell us more about the trails in your area, what are you riding, what makes the area great and what could be improved. We want to get a broad picture of the types of trail provision around the UK and by identifying gaps in the trail network, we can look at options to improve resources across the country.

“We urge every rider, trail builder, trail association member, bike park/trail centre manager and land owner or manager to complete the survey relevant to them and let’s ensure this audit is a true picture of the UK trail network! Please share the surveys far and wide.”

Follow the link here for the trail association, trail centre or bike park manager survey here.

And the landowner or land manager link to the survey is right here.