£3.3m for forest centre (From Gazette & Herald)

£3.3m for forest centre

THE Forestry Commission plans to pump £3.3 million into a new cycling centre at Dalby Forest - creating up to 30 jobs.

The first stage of the ambitious proposal involves redeveloping the present visitor centre - that presently pulls in 350,000 people a year offices and meeting room at Low Dalby, near Pickering.

A bike hire centre, six workshops and five offices, together with a covered outdoor education centre and new community resource site will be created. The second part of the process will be the construction of a large new visitor centre. "Basically, we want to improve the facilities at Dalby Forest Visitor Centre for the public," said the forest's recreation ranger, Andrew Orland. "At the moment there is a small visitor centre which is tucked away, and not the most obvious place to get to. We want to build something much more user friendly.

"There's a successful bike hire company already at Dalby, which has 50 bikes. We'd like to expand the sales side.

"The thought behind it is that we'd like Dalby Forest to have a cycling club. We're looking at putting a 50km route round the forest, a single track probably, and it will hopefully become a cycling centre for the region, bringing in tourism.

"The aim of the redevelopment is not necessarily to attract more visitors, but rather to extend the season for existing visitors by providing facilities they can use in the winter months," said Mr Orland.

The Forestry Commission is in consultation with the local community, the local parish council and Ryedale District Council about the plans.

The redevelopment is subject to funding.

Members of the North York Moors National Parks Authority planning committee will visit the site before they make a decision on November 21.

Updated: 10:23 Saturday, October 04, 2003