Tórshavn council majority withdraws support for mountain bike trail

According to KVF, a majority of Tórshavn City Council no longer supports plans to build a mountain bike trail by the horse path near Vesturvarði, despite three successive councils approving work on the project and funding having been allocated.

Mayor Elsa Berg said in a letter that she will propose at a meeting of the council’s Culture and Education Committee next Wednesday that Tórshavn Municipality review the plans with mountain bikers and the cycling and triathlon federation.

Berg also acknowledged that the decision will make it difficult to build an internationally approved mountain bike trail for next year’s Island Games in the Faroe Islands. A temporary solution that meets the Games’ requirements may instead be found, she wrote.

“We recognise that this is very unfortunate for mountain biking in the Faroe Islands and unfortunate for the Island Games. But for us in Tórshavn City Council, this should lead to self-examination,” Berg wrote.

She said a large majority of council members from both the governing coalition and the opposition had worked on the location since it was first approved in 2016. A large majority had also voted for the location on several occasions.

Berg rejected claims that new information had emerged after the location was approved in February. She said the location had already been sent to riding clubs for consultation in 2016, when the site near Vesturvarði was approved by the Planning and Building Committee.

The mayor also stressed that, despite the name horse path being associated with the route above Hotel Føroyar, it is a path on municipal land that the municipality has largely built and paid for. All residents of the municipality have the same right to use it, she said.