USERS of a wooded space in Gresford and Marford have expressed disbelief and anger after being told adult cyclists had been banned.

Maes y Pant, a 70-acre forest space, is run by an action group made up of local villagers.

On June 10, the group announced its decision to ban cyclists - to the dismay of many users.

In a statement on the Maes y Pant Facebook page, a spokesman said: "Those who are frequent visitors to Maes y Pant I’m sure will have noticed increased biker activity recently.

"Over the years we’ve wanted to be tolerant to local bikers, so long as they obeyed basic courtesy rules.

"With the lockdown, the number of bikers has increased and somehow knowledge of our site has spread further, so we also have adults and youngsters visiting from further away.

"We’ve had near misses on the footpath and our assessment of the bikers racing down from the quarry face and racing over the footpath to some home-made jumps is that it’s positively dangerous.

"This serious hazard is the big concern but the bikers are also causing some environmental damage and for many the site isn’t as enjoyable to visit with bikers frequently riding by at speed.

"On top of that, bikers should not be coming from outside the area to ride their bikes at as currently there are travel restrictions because of COVID-19 in Wales."

The spokesman added the Maes y Pant Action Group had been decided to ban all bikers on site except for children aged 11 or under accompanied by adults, cut down trees on the quarry slope to obstruct "the more dangerous runs" as well as taking down jumps each time they are made up.

Users were also advised that "PCSOs are being kept up to speed and now do daily patrols" at the site.

The Maes y Pant statement concluded that it may be possible to allow bikers on site in the future but there is a "need to keep them separate from walkers."

Users reacted with shock and anger, one labelling the decision a "disgrace".

Jon Parsonage, 34, told the Leader: "I've been using Maes y Pant for about 25 year, mainly for riding.

"It has always been a really good place to go and we do use some of the walking trails to get to where we ride, but the biking bits are all off-trail anyway.

"Most bikers are dog walkers as well and I have never had any problems with people on bikes when I've been walking there.

"We've been trying for years to get permission to build trails for biking - there's a heck of a lot of people who want that."

Describing how he felt when he heard about the ban, Mr Parsonage said: "I was upset more than anything and I think a lot of other people are as well.

"With lockdown, a lot of people can't get out anywhere to ride, so this has been ideal."

Maes y Pant Action Group chairman Trevor Britton told the Leader he and his fellow group members are listening to the public's response.

He said: "We bought this site in 2011 and set it up as a site for walking ans as a nature reserve.

"Because it's a former quarry and there are lots of slopes bikers have used it and we have allowed that to happen.

"But over the last few weeks it has got totally out of hand, with bikers and pedestrians coming into close proximity. Covid-19 has made things worse.

"We re looking at a way of letting the bikes back in, but in a safe way.

"This is a relatively small site so we need to separate the bikes from the pedestrians."