With the bike park on Ettelsberg and the touring network around Willingen, the Winterberg trail and bike park and the Brilon trailground, the Sauerland is considered a top address for mountain bikers. But there are rumours that a huge trail network is to be created around Willingen in the next few years. It would be an MTB paradise of enormous proportions. We spoke to Thomas Trachte, the mayor of Willingen.
BIKE: There are rumours about a planned trail network around Willingen. What's the truth behind the rumours?
Thomas Trachte: The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg and several towns/municipalities belonging to the district are planning to form a special-purpose association whose task will be to build, operate and market a large trail network for mountain bikers. The trail network is to be organised in such a way that several individual trail parks are created in the district and linked together by a trail system. According to the current state of planning, this will result in the creation of a high-level, interconnected trail network covering around 600 kilometres. Of course, there are many other important features that the trail park should offer: Navigation, good signposting, exciting nature and landscape, connection of many special tourist features. The investment volume for the planning and creation of the trail network currently amounts to around 14 million euros. Whether and to what extent the planned trail network can actually be realised will be clarified in the coming months. I think that we will make progress with the project. However, we are still at a stage of development where the project could fail.
What is the status of the planning?
There is a project outline with corresponding financial and economic planning, a conceptual approach for the route system and an approach for the marketing concept. This project outline sets out what is to be built, what investment costs will be incurred, how the subsequent ongoing operation is to be financed and what marketing approaches exist for marketing the concept and how the objective of promoting tourism can be achieved. In the course of this spring, a planning office is to be found to manage the project. Its task will be to develop and plan the final route network and then to supervise the engineering of the route construction. The marketing concept will also be developed in parallel by the project management. If everything goes well, the plans and approvals will be in place by the middle/end of 2020 and we can start building the route, although this will of course also take some time.
What are the biggest hurdles that need to be overcome?
There are still many hurdles to overcome. The project is very complex. Firstly, a sufficient number of local authorities must be found who want to join the project and co-finance it. The corresponding political will is currently being formed in the municipalities. Some have already made a commitment. In general, financing issues still need to be clarified. Then the route network has to be developed, which requires all kinds of public and private authorisations. This is why the trail network is to be developed in consultation with the relevant authorities, such as nature conservation and forestry, landowners, commercial users of forest and agricultural land, hunting tenants and other relevant interest groups. This will be very challenging because we can only make progress with the agreement of these interest groups. Any existing conflicts of objectives or interests must be worked through and balanced. Once this has been achieved, route construction will also be very demanding, as we will need sufficient capacity from experienced route constructors. That will also be a challenge.
So what can mountain bikers expect in the Sauerland in ten years' time?
We want to develop and build a trail system in the Waldecker Land region that meets the very high demands of mountain bikers in terms of route scope, route structure, quality and service and should therefore be one of the leading offers on the German market.
How has MTB tourism in Willingen developed since the noughties?
MTB tourism has developed very positively in Willingen. We already have good offers for mountain bikers. Ultimately, the annual BIKE Festivalwhich we have been organising for over two decades, has contributed to our success. We see a lot more potential in this segment in the future.
