mickc
Moorgreen Reservoir - Section Three
Mountain Biking Portland Park to the Felly
One of my favourite local loops is a 16 mile off road circuit that passes by the picturesque Moorgreen Reservoir. When the sun is shining the Reservoir reflects perfectly like mirror.
Here is the third video of my 'Moorgreen Reservoir loop' playlist. This is the link section between Portland Park and The Felly. Unfortunately, not all routes can be off road, but this has a nice downhill path through the Sherwood Business Park.
From the centre of Portland Park and the wild rabbit café head up towards Kirkby. When reaching a fork in the track take a right around and past the farmhouses before passing through the gate and then right to traverse the side of the field. You will come out at the Cricketers Arms and then its right onto Nuncargate road. After about 500 meters there is an alley that goes up toward Sherwood Business Park. It’s a three-section hill through the houses and gets steep at the end. Once you make the top, follow the road (Wesley Street) until you come out onto Forest Road. Take a right and then a left to enter the back end of the Sherwood Business Park. The path goes right through the park at speed but be careful of the workers taking a walk on their break, they appear from nowhere sometimes. Once through the park go through the garden of the Mour hotel and cross the busy A608. From here its into the Felly and section four.
As a former employee of one of the businesses located at the business park I was interested in the history of the park. I spent a good few years biking to work within the park and never really realised how it was built and expanded.
Apparently, Kodak were the originators of a business park at the location in the early 1990s. Planning was resisted initially but plans were agreed with sites in the Nottinghamshire coalfield being sought for Enterprise Zone status and £11m funding for infrastructure being allocated by the Urban Development Agency and English Partnerships. The site was to be a high-quality development with building designs closely monitored. Landscaping was extensive with wildlife areas and a sustainable surface water drainage system comprising five ponds.
The Urban Regeneration Agency (URA) entered a joint venture agreement with Kodak in 1994 where the proceeds from the sales and costs of infrastructure and maintenance were shared 50/50. That agreement was then inherited by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) in 1999.
The final sites of the original URA/ emda element of the site were developed in 2005. The redevelopment of the Kodak site took place from 2006 onwards.
Sherwood Business Park Enterprise Zone has been an extremely successful project of industrial and office development and was a flagship project for emda. All developable land has been sold with receipts totalling £32m, job forecasts of 4500 have probably been exceeded by some margin.
The emda exit strategy for moving away from the park involved forming a new management company made up of the head leaseholders. They would in turn appoint a managing agent to take over all of emda's remaining responsibilities with the costs recovered through a service charge. Before this could take place, the complicated drainage system and road network had to be adopted and maintained at public expense to avoid the management company picking up these expensive liabilities. This took over five years with the drains adopted in 2006 and the roads being adopted in 2007.
Emda was abolished in 2011, all responsibilities transferred to the Homes and Communities Agency. The transfer to the new Sherwood Business Park Estate Limited (SBPE Ltd) was completed in 2012. The site is now run by Directors nominated by leaseholders and occupiers.
As an off-road biker, I’m always moaning about the green land being developed for industrial estates that sit unused or housing developments, reducing the number of routes that can be ridden. The Sherwood Business Park does boast about it’s Ecology.
The Business Park, whilst a high technology enterprise zone, and set amongst ancient park and farmland, is complemented by many species of trees, plants, flowers, birds, and mammals all thriving amongst its green living lungs.
Amongst the many trees are Italian, Black and Speckled Alders; English Oak, Ash, Elm, and Holly; plus 3 differing kinds of willow and Quaking aspen trees, and many flowers of both ancient woodland and meadow carpet the undergrowth.
On the water’s edge are Marsh Marigold, Hoary Willow Herb, Amphibious Bistort, water mint, with Mallard, Snipe, Water Hen, and Coot joining in with the songs of Bluetits, Coal tits, Jays, the occasional White Throat to name but a few of the 60+ birds which call this home. Whilst under the surface live frogs, toads and newts with various fishes including, importantly, sticklebacks which are being researched by a local University to understand the process of “osteoporosis” and how it may hopefully be reversed, whilst on top of the water amongst the pond skaters may glide Grass snakes. The park and surrounding land are a very important resource for these creatures.
I can actually say whilst biking through the park I have seen the ponds, green areas, and paths where these plants and trees can thrive, but it is still a small area of the park which I’m sure nowhere near compensates for the green land it was built on. I guess all we can do is enjoy the area’s that are left for green space.
Look out for the full 'Moorgreen Reservoir Loop' video in a few weeks which links all sections of the healthy 16-mile loop in Nottinghamshire.
Check out all the sections of the Moorgreen Loop below:
