THE brakes have been put on a plan to restore a BMX track in a beauty spot near North Warnborough.

Members of Odiham Parish Council want more information on a plan to remove undergrowth from the track at Bartley Heath, a nature reserve owned by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

The track was used in the 1980s by a group called Terry’s Tigers, but is now disused and overgrown.

A meeting of the parish council heard it had received correspondence from a man called Richard Palmer, who wants to restore the track.

He set up a Facebook page called Bring back North Warnborough BMX Track, which had attracted more than 180 likes by the time The Gazette went to press.

Parish clerk Sarah Weir and councillors Mike O’Neill and Jeremy Fellows made a visit to the track.

She said: “It does look as if it could be an amazing facility but it’s not our land and it does need a lot of work to get it back to where it should be.”

Cllr O’Neill added: “Mr Palmer said he has no intention of running the club or organising events. There’s not a group of people like there used to be in the 1980s. It’s a humpty-dumpty track and it does not relate to modern BMX racing.”

Cllr Helen Fleming suggested that the parish council should only take the idea seriously when a group of people demand the track should be used again.