Three years after ‘home-made’ mountain bike jumps started appearing in riverside bush areas around Greater Shepparton, Cr Fern Summer is pushing for an outcome in relation to their long-term future.
After facing criticism for removing the jumps in bush along the Broken River, in November 2020 council committed to establishing a reference group to explore the possibility of developing a bike jump facility.
The group’s intention was to progress cycling infrastructure and dirt bike jump zones within Greater Shepparton, but Cr Summer says it is yet to report any findings.
“I have tried to go through the normal channels and I’ve been very patient, but two years into this term, three years since this really blew up as an issue, I think it’s been long enough and it needed to be pushed forward in time to consider during the (20)23/24 budget,” she said.
Cr Summer said children and adults were behind the construction of the jumps, mostly during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“The community was strongly in favour of council not destroying bike jumps,” she said.
“This was during lockdown, this was when kids were quite bored, this is during a time when kids are often on their devices and not playing outside and building those friendships that can take them through to adulthood, and they take a lot of pride in these spaces where council doesn’t necessarily need to go in and bulldoze everything to make it safe.”
Cr Summer said she would like an area set aside for bicycle riders and their jumps.
“There’s a lot of activity out at Lincoln Dve, for instance, and my belief is that we should be considering a zoned area that is dirt jump-friendly in spaces where kids already build those jumps,” Cr Summer said.
“That way there’s no need to destroy any, we’re casting a net where we’ll get most of the kids who are active in that space and we can educate them on safe practices and lessening environmental impact.”
Cr Summer moved a motion at council’s March meeting that a report from the Bike Jumps Reference Group be presented to council no later than the end of April for consideration in the 2023-2024 budget.
The motion was seconded by Cr Ben Ladson and carried unopposed.