7stanes History

The project is now in its second phase which runs until December 2007, with another £2 million being spent to provide more routes to suit all types of mountain biking and all skills levels. New facilities are also planned to further enhance the world class reputation of the 7stanes venues.

In 2002, the 7stanes project began to extend the success of Glentress Forest across the whole of southern Scotland. The centres run from Glentrool near Newton Stewart in the west through to Peebles in the east.

The project is managed by Forestry Commission Scotland in partnership with:

• Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway
• Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board
• Scottish Enterprise Borders
• Scottish Borders Tourist Board
• Scottish Borders Council
• Dumfries & Galloway Council
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• Solway Heritage
• Heritage Lottery Fund.

All the partners joined forces to raise £1 million towards the initiative however match-funding from European structural funding brought the £2m project to life.

The £2million funding was spent over the project's lifetime which ran from 2002 to 2004. The Forestry Commission, through Forest Enterprise, managed the project with its partners and committed £329,000 to the project as well as its land and expertise in developing mountain biking trails. Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway funded the project with £250,000 and the other partners a further total of £445,000. These monies were matched by a European Contribution of £916,000 which was announced, alongside other EU funded projects, by Peter Peacock, Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services, at a press conference in Mabie Forest near Dumfries.

Recently, Bob McIntosh, Chief Executive of Forest Enterprise said the funding will help make the South of Scotland a first class destination for mountain bikers:

"As Britain's largest provider of outdoor recreation, we have been working in partnership with a vast range of organisations and mountain bike clubs to help promote this very popular sport. Not only are we providing fantastic trails for cyclists, we are helping bring in visitors and money to rural areas. This is vitally important to the South of Scotland which was badly affected by the foot and mouth outbreak."