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Leicester's volunteer-built Western Park Freeride Trails have had a summer of JCB work: a bigger circuit start ramp, new features and a cleared car park.
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Volunteers at Western Park Freeride Trails in Leicester have spent the summer working alongside a JCB, reshaping the jump lines, the circuit and the space around them. The club, Western Park Freeriders, says the machine time was paid for by Leicester City Council's Pride in Place funding, and the latest day, squeezed in as that funding comes to an end, has cleared out the car park.
The council's Pride in Place Impact Fund is £1.5m of government capital for quick, low-cost projects anywhere in the city, with a focus on parks and open spaces, spent over 2025/26 and 2026/27. The council has not yet published which schemes it chose.
What has changed
The digger first went in on 21 May, reworking the circuit start ramp, tidying the site, building stockpiles of dirt for future digs and adding a couple of big tables in the old pump track. The club says the new start ramp gives riders more speed, which has opened that part of the circuit up to a wider range of abilities, while riders who were already in the air are now getting more of it.
A second session in June widened the main start, added a kid-friendly start for the dual slalom, with the slalom line itself to be reinstated, and put new big features after Dave's Drop.
In August the circuit got a higher start ramp again, along with a wider push-up, changes to the lower section and some woodland clearance.
The most recent day cleared the car park to give much more space, and started a revamp of the line through the gullies.
What riders need to know
The park stayed open through the work. During the June session the club asked riders to keep off lines that were still being built, and that is worth bearing in mind while the gullies line is unfinished.
The club says three new tables and six bins are due to be installed shortly, after three benches with tables were first promised in August.
Western Park Freeriders post dig days and trail updates on their Facebook page, which is the best place to check what is open and to find out how to help.
Photos: Western Park Freeriders.