Shoreham Bike Park: Bike enthusiasts’ plan for Adur Recreation Ground

Seb Tucknott, 35, from Upper Beading in Horsham, came up with the idea to transform the north of Adur Recreation Ground, near Shoreham Airport, into a multi-use bike park with six sections catering for all ages and abilities.

Seb’s view, helped by the twelve others on his team, is to create a kids’ zone, a beginner pump track, an intermediate/advanced pump track, a jump track, trails area and a skills trial area.

There will be parking spaces and toilet facilities near the bike park.

The Shoreham Bike Park has already been registered as a community interest company and is a non-profit organisation.

Seb, who has always had a passion for cycling, said: “I started riding when I was about 14 years old. I used to do a bit of dirt jumping and used to go and build jumps at the back of Sainsbury’s in Hove with my friends.

“I ended up coming off my bike doing dirt jumps which scared me a bit, so I moved to doing something called bike trails when I was around 16, which is where you hop around obstacles and things like that, it’s a bit more static.”

Seb said the site they are looking to develop used to be a BMX track in the 70s and 80s and said it fell off around the 90s, but as a kid, Seb remembered the remnants of the track still being there to ride on.

Seb said he moved from Hove to Shoreham when he was 21, and always had wondered what the site would be like now if something similar was created.

Seb added: “The council flattened the land a few years back and left it, so I approached them and asked what was going on with the site to which they said that nothing was happening.

“I started to come up with this idea of creating somewhere, and not just a BMX track but something that was for everyone and something that a lot of people of all ages can use.

“I am very passionate about the outdoors, movement and getting people active in a way that’s not forced, I like to be fun with it, and I feel a space like this could help with that.

“Particularly now since the pandemic, people have got more into cycling and appreciating the outdoors. I want to make something of that. I want to make a nice destination for Shoreham where people can visit and enjoy.”

Seb said that ideally, the plans that the group have come up with will need about £500,000 raised. Seb said he and the group have a variety of ideas on how they can successfully raise that amount of money.

He said: “We have started the conversation with The National Lottery Community Fund, which could potentially fund the whole thing.

“There is also section 106 funding which is when housing developers build houses, they have to set aside some money to invest in local stuff which may be schools, parks or whatever, they have to give back to the community, and there is quite a lot of that going on at the moment.

“When we first had the conversation about this, the council said that normally with the section 106 money a basketball court would be built, and actually those basketball courts cost about half a million to build as well.

“We are also looking at crowd funding. We wouldn’t expect to raise the whole lot but we definitely have a lot of local support and have already got some donations from local individuals and a few local companies who are interested.”

Visit the Shoreham Bike Park’s website find out more about Seb’s plans and to register your interest. You can also visit the Facebook page to keep updated.