A THREAT to bulldoze a popular off-road cycle track in Halesowen has sparked a storm of protest from more than 1,000 supporters.

Enthusiasts were “gutted” when a Dudley Council enforcement officer ordered the painstakingly-crafted dirt jumps in a small coppice on the Squirrels estate to be flattened.

The dirt jumps, totalling more than 100, have been popular for mountain bike and BMX riders for more than 15 years and are used regularly by children and adults, from four to 40.

Chris Brown, a 29-year-old mechanical engineer, who has been a passionate rider there for 14 years, launched a Facebook campaign called Save Halesowen Trails after being told the facility did not have planning permission last Friday.

He had gone there to carry out maintenance work on the jumps and found the official and a representative for the landowner A & J Mucklow Group discussing its future.

Mr Brown, who has lived in the area all his life until moving to Cradley Heath recently, said: “The officer said it fell foul of the planning laws and that Mucklow were going to have to flatten the jumps. I was in absolute shock and disbelief.”

Conservative candidate for Hayley Green and Cradley South  Jeff Hill visited the site on Sunday and was impressed by the way it was managed and kept clear of litter, with mini-jumps for beginners to international-standard challenges.

He said: “Given the enormous difficulty in providing facilities that young people want to use it would be a great shame to get rid of one that they are providing themselves at no cost to the taxpayer.”

The council visit followed a complaint from a resident about noise, disturbance and safety to other users of the coppice, such as dog walkers.

But Mr Brown’s mother Janice, of Birley Grove, collected signatures from 37 householders whose homes back onto the coppice to a petition calling for the jumps to be saved, three of whom were unaware of their existence.

Describing it as a “hidden gem” she said: “The riders and their families have been given no opportunity to discuss this and express their point of view.

“Many of them have spent years using their leisure time to move hundreds of tons of soil by hand to create and maintain this amazing local facility.”

Mucklow director David Folkes confirmed there had been an informal request from the council last Friday to re-instate the area to its original condition.

But he said no action would be taken as a result of the calls to save the facility pending talks between the council and the users of planning permission.

A council spokesman said to avoid the need for planning permission, the users would have to prove it had been in its current form for at least 10 years.