Dalgety Bay Community Pump Track

Dalgety Bay Pump Track is a group of local Dalgety Bay cycling, bike, skateboard and scooter enthusiasts who are committed to creating an urban skills track at Dalgety Bay Sports and Leisure Centre.  

The group comprises mainly young people who are working in partnership with Dalgety Community Trust who have agreed to be the legal sponsoring entity for the project.  The aim of the group is to build, operate and maintain a high-quality pump track which will be free to access, open and accessible to locals and visitors alike. Pump tracks are popular, public sports facilities attracting all ages and all abilities.  Pump tracks can support improved health and wellbeing, encourage exercise, help build important bike handling skills as well as helping to build a sense of community for young people.    

Benefits of a Pump Track

There are lots of potential benefits that Dalgety Bay and its wider community will get from a pump track in the area: 

• The community gets a new and valuable asset with funding raised by the young people who want it. The community will decide what the  final design of the pump track looks like so that it is unique to the area and the young people who use it.  
• The track will be a valuable improvement to an existing sports and leisure centre and will make more productive use of vacant land on the existing sports playing field.  Day-to-day access will be free for all. 
• The Track will promote cycling amongst young people and children. Although the track will be designed and built by those who already have an enthusiasm for cycling, many of those who will use the track will be beginners. Pump tracks are not too intimidating for a beginner or too easy for a professional rider. Our track will be designed to include a separate kid’s zone where parents can walk with their kids over the features! We intend to build a track to a standard where we can attract and host competitive races. 
• The Track will promote healthy and active lifestyles and better wellbeing. Providing a sociable, enjoyable environment for exercise is a helpful way of encouraging people to become more active.    There is lots evidence from other locations that pump tracks can promote greater engagement in exercise from young people who would not typically engage with other traditional forms of recreation.  Engaged young people become more active, gain self-confidence and experience reduced mental well-being issues. 
• The track promotes volunteer opportunities for members of the community. Volunteering is proven to benefit all age groups and lead to very positive outcomes for communities where a high level of volunteering is the norm.  Volunteering can bridge the generation gap by helping younger and older generations to find a common purpose. This is exactly the case with the partnership between Dalgety Community Trust and the Dalgety Bay Pump Track team. Volunteering can also provide potential pathways to employment and improved career outcomes for participants. 
• The Track can help with the deterrence of anti-social behaviour. Evidence from other locations suggests that pump tracks can lead to measurable reductions in anti-social behaviour at those locations.  By providing an additional free to use facility for all, lowers the potential barrier to participation and should help provide some young people with a place to connect to their community that was previously absent. 
• Pump tracks create a fun and positive atmosphere. We hope that our pump track will be a place where people want to be. Kids will have a place to meet their friends on a regular basis and improve their skills on their wheels.  Riders of all ages can come on the weekends and stay for hours enabling people to come together to enjoy the simple sport of cycling and in doing so create a unique social setting for building friendships and new acquaintances. 

Project Description 

The pump track will be a looped sequence of rollers and berms (swoopy banked turns) and features designed to be ridden by riders ‘pumping’ – generating momentum by up and down body movements and with minimal pedalling or pushing. It is designed to be used by everyone, all ages and abilities, and is ideal for children and young people to learn to handle their bikes, scooters and skateboards in a safe, accessible area. 

Our track will be around 280 metres in length and a minimum of 2m wide, with different sections for riders with a range of skills.  The track will be built adjacent too and connected with, the existing skate park at the sports centre.   The eventual aim of the project is for the track to be floodlit to extend its operating hours in the winter months. 

A key aim of the pump track is to ensure it is accessible to all, regardless of their level of skill or physical ability.  Our aim is to maximise inclusivity, by designing the track for almost anything on wheels which is human powered, bikes of all types and sizes, boards, scooters, skates and wheelchairs. We will work closely with local organisations that support cycling related activities and will endeavour to make a range of equipment available free to use or at minimal cost for people to ‘come and have a go’.   

The proposed track will be designed and constructed to a high standard by a specialist contractor selected through a competitive tendering process. Once operational, day to day access to the track will be free, with modest charges only being made for participation in organised events, coaching and competition.  Limited charging for events in this way, is an appropriate means of generating the income necessary to cover maintenance and running costs. 

Community engagement 

Significant community engagement has taken place to ensure that the community have a say on whether they wish to see a pump track developed in Dalgety Bay. Between February and June 2021, we carried out an online survey, engaged with pupils at our local High School as well as putting posters around the town.  We received great, positive feedback towards seeing the project achieve success, with the vast majority of people surveyed supporting the track and the proposed location.  

Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, the operators of Dalgety Bay Sports and Leisure Centre and Fife Council the ultimate landowner are very supportive of the project and have given permission to use the land at the sports centre. 

The design

A good pump track must flow well, be well built have a good layout and be safe.  To meet these aims, we will: 

• Build an asphalted track which is hard wearing, built to last, almost all weather and low maintenance. 
• Build a track that will act as a hotspot for all kinds of riders who seek a fun and action-filled sports experiences. We want our pump track to be the popular destination for people of all ages, in essence, “the hive of community activity”.  
• Contract with an experienced builder. There are several companies who are well known in the UK for creating great tracks that work, a badly built pump track can be enough to put people off, so it is essential to use a good contractor. 
• Install floodlighting into the build, making the area safer and opening the possibility for winter evening activities.  

Through our ongoing community consultation, we will ensure that the design of the pump track will include input from riders of all ages and abilities. 

Our preferred contractor has proposed the design set out below. This is preliminary at this stage and is subject to change through the next phase of community consultation. However this shows the exciting potential of the land we have available. The proposal caters for all abilities of users depending on user group requirements.  This  layout should give a great riding experience,   the track can be used in sections, areas, as a continuous loop or in a more informal manner if the user requires. The limit is the imagination of the user. The layout means that users can use the track in a number of ways.  The option on how to navigate the area gives a good variety and scope for improvement for ALL levels of users. Elevated start platforms will accommodate up to 50 Users in a safe, elevated position with good sight lines of all track users and clear site lines of tracks entrance and exit points.  

Ultimately, we want a track that people can enjoy and build their skills on, a track that challenges and provides the opportunity for local community groups to hold competitions and make the track a destination of choice for everything on wheels. 

Welcoming those with disabilities 

Our pump track will be specifically designed to allow people with disabilities to experience the benefits the track can bring using their wheelchair.  As part of the design and engagement process, we will be actively seeking the involvement of the local Health & Social Care Partnership and local groups to encourage them to join in the fun and offer their members the opportunities to experience the joy that pump tracks can bring to all.   

We will aim to work with those local community groups to look at how we can offer specially adapted bikes and wheels where people with disabilities can attend the track and access the facilities like everyone else in their community. 

Project delivery  

Dalgety Community Trust supported by the pump track volunteer group will be responsible for the contract with the design and build contractor, but all the site work will be included in the contract such that it is a ‘turnkey’ arrangement with the selected contractor.

We know however that it is not just about building the track.  We will need to raise the necessary funds.  We are launching this crowd funding appeal to help meet the early stages of the project cost, specifically to:

• Prepare, submit and secure planning consent for the track
• Complete the design stage of the project including community consultation.

We have submitted a number of applications for funding to major grant supporting bodies and are working closely with them to secure funding.  Most major funders require that the project has all the necessary planning permissions in place before releasing funds, hence the reasons for our crowd funding appeal. 

We have received the very generous support of a number of local businesses already which has helped to kickstart our funding campaign, but we need more to really get us to a position where we can secure the major donations to build our track.

 Subject to successful funding, we hope to be able to commence construction of the track in late 2023 and open the track before the end of 2023.