Great Brickhill quad bike firm makes bid to stay on track despite local fears

Residents have raised concerns about plans by the Quadrenalin Quadbiking Centre which has operated from Great Firs in Great Brickhill for the past eight and a half years with no planning permission. Both Great Brickhill and Little Brickhill councils have also raised objections.

Up to 50 individuals are supporting the bid.

But Quadrenalin Quadbiking Centre - which has operated from Great Firs in Great Brickhill for the past eight and a half years - has hit back and says it has “had no complaints” from the public in all those years.

It has now applied for backdated consent to be there.

The application, which is being considered by Buckinghamshire Council, is for change of use of the land for a quad biking facility with associated tracks, training area, ancillary buildings and landscaping.

Quadrenalin says the centre follows government legislation and their instructors are trained by the European Institute of ATVs.

"From the entrance a very small portion of the centre can be seen, only the wooden shelters which are actually horse shelters. The rest of the site cannot been seen from the road by foot or vehicle,” their application states.

But objectors say the quad bikes cause noise, pollution, damage to wildlife and increased traffic on country lanes in their village.

In its objection, Great Brickhill Parish Council stated: “The Parish Council is mindful that there continues to be considerable and strong opposition to the quad biking facility from village residents (and also from residents of Little Brickhill), and this has been voiced on a regular basis to Parish Councillors over the years.

"This is reflected in the many responses opposing the application which the planning authority will have seen – all of these from local residents – compared with the fewer number of responses from those supporting the application, nearly all of whom do not live locally and are not adversely affected by the development.”

Milton Keynes City Council has also objected.

Many residents have also submitted formal objections, saying it’s a “totally inappropriate” use of the countryside and it causes noise and atmospheric pollution.

The application was submitted a year ago but the consultation period ended last month.

A spokesman for Quadrenalin said: “When we started the businesses it was extremely small, only operating on weekends with very few customers. When the business grew within the first year we put a planning application into the council, however we were advised by the officer to withdraw it and operate to gain an insight into local feedback.”

He added: “Most of the individuals didn’t even know we were there. They just associate quadbikes with being loud. However the land layout and trees contain any potential noise and we choose the bikes specifically due to their low decibel noise.

"A lot of the locals support our business and see no impact with us being there. We also support local businesses through providing customers to them… As a community we should be supporting local businesses and this doesn’t seem the case in this matter.”