{"id":474216,"date":"2026-03-13T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474216\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:49:12","slug":"backyard-of-dreams-mountain-bike-track-built-without-planning-permission-deemed-illegal-as-councillors-claim-site-has-scarred-countryside-cycling-news-bike-rev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474216\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBackyard of dreams\u201d mountain bike track built without planning permission deemed illegal, as councillors claim site has \u201cscarred countryside\u201d – Cycling News | Bike Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s the brainchild of two of freeride mountain biking\u2019s most respected figures, hosted one of the sport\u2019s most popular events, and been variously described as the \u201cbackyard of dreams\u201d, a \u201cdirt masterpiece\u201d and a \u201cGarden of Eden\u201d.<\/p>\n

But a mountain bike track nestled in the Welsh countryside has been deemed illegal by planners this week after it was built without permission, with councillors criticising the track for \u201cscarring the countryside\u201d.<\/p>\n

The compound, located at Maes Loonskie, Cwm Nant-y-Meichiaid, in the countryside between Llanfyllin and Meifod in central Wales, was built by Vero Sandler and Sam Hodgson.<\/p>\n

New Zealand-born Sandler is regarded as one of the pioneers of freeride mountain biking, an exciting off-road discipline that sees riders earn points for performing gravity-defying tricks, instead of racing each other.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The jumps and ramps they built in the garden of their rural property have played host in 2024 and 2025 to a round of Backyard Battle, a series featuring some of the world\u2019s best freeriders and sponsored by the Monster Energy drinks company.<\/p>\n

In a video posted last month on YouTube by Ghost Bikes, Hodgson discussed how the track was built and developed over the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally in my bones to just build stuff and ride it,\u201d Hodgson, originally from the Isle of Wight, said. \u201cI had the canvas but nothing to ride, so I had to build it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, that building work came under scrutiny during a meeting of Powys County Council\u2019s planning committee on Thursday, where councillors received a \u201cpart retrospective\u201d proposal to construct the bike track, including the siting of two containers, the construction of new access, and associated works at the compound.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Hodgson (Image Credit: Ghost Bikes)<\/p>\n

After 20 objections were made against the application, senior planning officer Kate Bowen recommended that councillors refuse permission, claiming the track has had a negative impact on a group of listed buildings 150 metres away, the County Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Bowen also claimed that the compound creates an \u201calien topography which is at stark contrast to the existing landscape\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Hodgson and Sandler were also criticised for going ahead with the construction of the track before they had received planning permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely baffled why anybody embarking on a development of this scale would not have consulted with the local community, assessed the ecology of the area, and address access issues,\u201d Conservative councillor Jonathan Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first became of aware of this about two years ago when residents reported huge amounts of earth being moved on a steep side near their properties serviced by a single-track C road.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the documents submitted as part of the planning process, the bike track was listed as being for private use only, something criticised by the councillors who noted the \u201csignificant\u201d traffic using the site and its hosting of the Backyard Battle series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know lots of people would be excited by this development and biking is a growth industry,\u201d Liberal Democrat councillor Angela Davies said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just cannot get my head around what the developers were thinking that this was okay to do this without planning permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of videos around. The Backyard Battle event was held at this site in June 2025 with music and dancing. That was a big event \u2013 so I think it\u2019s disingenuous to say this is for personal use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SatelliteSatellite image of Mae Loonskie mountain bike track, Wales (Image Credit: Google)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru\u2019s Elwyn Vaughan told the meeting that photographs shown to the committee revealed that the track had led to a \u201cscarring of the countryside\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to send a message this is not acceptable,\u201d he said, arguing that it was \u201cnot right\u201d that developers build first and then expect the council to \u201cbend over\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson also added that there are \u201cdwellings\u201d on site, at least one of which is \u201coccupied\u201d, telling the meeting: \u201cI would have liked to see an application include those dwellings as we\u2019re almost pretending they don\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

> \u201cThey started waving and smiling\u201d: Fuming residents claim children\u2019s bike track has \u201cruined living here\u201d and devalued houses \u2013 due to kids \u201cpeering\u201d into their homes<\/a><\/p>\n

However, planning agent Oliver Evans told the committee that Hodgson and Sandler had a \u201cclear willingness to make meaningful adjustments to the track layout in order to reduce visual impact and respond to concerns raised\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also pointed out that planning policy stressed the need to support sustainable economic development in rural areas.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the members of the committee voted unanimously to refuse the application, the chairperson Gareth Jones concluding: \u201cWe want to send a clear message that we won\u2019t stand for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

road.cc has contacted Sam Hodgson for comment on the decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the brainchild of two of freeride mountain biking\u2019s most respected figures, hosted one of the sport\u2019s most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-474216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}