Forest Rallying - Missed Opportunities

Recent posts on this page have expressed concern about the future of forest rallying in Great Britain. This followed the publication of last year's Motorsports Review by Forestry England, which although not quite damning, fell short of being supportive. So far there have been no puffs of white smoke from Forest & Land Scotland's HQ chimney, but no doubt the embers are being stoked.

This is nothing new for the Forestry Commission, Forest Enterprise Scotland or Forest & Land Scotland as it's now called as it is constantly reviewing its procedures and reporting on progress. That's as it should be, if indeed there is progress to report. It just seems to the outsiders that nothing changes except the letterheads and titles. A bit like other 'Government departments and agencies' much work is done behind closed doors, pronouncements announced - and nothing happens.

It's the same in many other bodies, especially amateur sporting authorities. Every time there is a change of chairman and/or committee, some new ideas are sought, reports commissioned, actions agreed - and nothing happens. It was the same with motor sport's own governing body, lots of fuel intake and exhaust expended but little in the way of forward motion detected.

That's the main reason that much was expected of the new incumbents to the new-look Motor Sports UK two years ago. We're still waiting.

The Scottish Government is another adopter of such practices. Every time a new Minister is appointed or swapped from one brief to another, big changes are predicted, and each time a new Chair of a consultative committee is chosen or elected there is a quick flurry of activity before lethargy descends once again or they run out of ideas - and all this at public expense.

Perhaps that's why a small group of concerned motor sports enthusiasts took matters into their own hands.

Inspired by the imminent closure of a 1990s opencast coal mine in South Lanarkshire, they came up with the idea to convert this huge scar in the landscape into a 'National Rally Training Centre' 20 years ago, itself part of a bigger idea for an 'Outdoor Pursuit Centre'. This huge facility which lay beside the A74 (M) motorway in South Lanarkshire already had its own nearby motorway junction. A big advantage for any proposed major national development.

The site owners were onboard as they had set aside funds for the re-constitution of the site once the coal had been extracted and this idea would have minimised their cost! There was the prospect of finance via the Strathclyde European Partnership which was undergoing huge investment in the area from the derelict Gartcosh and Ravenscraig steelworks to the World Heritage site at New Lanark and this sporting development scheme fell within their remit.

The local Member of the Scottish Parliament and South Lanarkshire Council were onboard and indeed the local councillor was a motor sports fan.

And that's where this idea ticked all the boxes. By calling it an 'Outdoor Pursuit Centre', it could have been used all year round for a number of activities, not just motor rallying, 4x4 events, trials and autotests as well as off-road motorcycle sports, but other sports such as mountain biking, orienteering, clay pigeon shooting, archery, cross country running and water sports on the lochan in the centre of the site. A safe and secure site for all ages from school children and teenagers to adults, from amateurs to professionals.

On site facilities would have included offices, lecture suites and garages which could be used to train sports officials and marshals. The plan was to make this a revenue earning 7 day a week facility which would earn its keep and subsidise sports training and development.

Even the Police, Fire and Ambulance services were interested in using the site for 'Major Incident' planning and practice. One other thing, the Forestry Commission itself expressed an interest in using the facility as a training venue for staff.

Architect plans were drawn up which included a network of two interlocking loops of gravel road which could have been expanded in years to follow and which could have been used by rally teams for testing and perhaps even staging smaller single venue events - much like M-Sport's private facility in Cumbria. A feasibility study was commissioned from a professional consultancy, and it was all looking good.

What wasn't included in the planning at this stage was the fact that there was a substantial amount of private investment primed to get the show on the road before the public money was released, but that investment was conditional on MSA support for the proposal. High level approval was sought to bolster the group's ambitions.

Then the Chief Exec of the Motor Sports Association wanted a site visit. It was February. It was cold, wet, grey and dreich. Just what you would expect in Scotland at the tail end of Winter but our visitor arrived with his MSA anorak and shiny shoes to visit what was still an open cast coal mining site! The bumpy trip around 'the sights' in a Scottish Coal LWB Land Rover Defender did little to improve the mood.

It would appear that following this visit, the MSA had the 'unique and bright idea' of creating an off road motor sports academy in south Wales although this had not previously been mentioned publicly. Draw your own conclusions. That didn't happen either.

We missed our chance and now it's a wind farm. And folk wonder why I'm so cynical.

Anyway, the basic idea could still work although it would require leasing or buying a suitable forest and collaboration with Forest & Land Scotland - they get the timber and we manage the roads and jointly manage the plantation. Simples, eh?

As far back as 2004, the Scottish Government has been seeking to make the publicly owned Scottish forests more profitable. A report back then suggested selling off parts of the forest estate and seeking other ways to make it financially self sustainable while still allowing public access. On that basis, they might well be open to any ideas and suggestions that could help achieve their aims.

Of course it wouldn't be simple, but the idea still has merit, does it not?