NATIONAL park bosses are smarting after losing £1.5million pledged for its abandoned Boris bikes scheme – because the government said their replacement plans weren’t ambitious enough.

The Boris bike plan, which was backed by a 2,000- name petition and supported by one of Britain’s sporting heroes, was scrapped after the National Park Authority (NPA) rejected its own proposal.

Now the government, which had promised £3.6 million for cycling improvements in the forest, has refused to approve part of an alternative plan put forward by the organisation.

It means that £1.5m of the promised grant from the Department for Transport (DfT) will now be spent elsewhere.

The NPA has come under fire after the revelation, with one rider saying that it had been “naive” in trying to use cycle cash to subsidise other organisations’ road maintenance budgets and described the outcome as an “embarrassing failure” for the NPA.

The saga began last year when the NPA was given Government money to promote family-friendly cycling in the forest.

The organisation devised a £2m scheme that would have enabled cyclists to hire 250 bikes at 20 docking stations across the district.

The eco-friendly system, aimed mostly at visitors to the area, was backed by a 2,100-name petition and was supported by British Olympic gold medal winning cyclist Chris Boardman, pictured.

However, NPA members scrapped the plan amid fears that it would attract too many cyclists to the area, in the light of criticism from residents over mass cycling events.

Four of the alternative proposals drawn up by the authority a few weeks later have now been approved by transport minister Robert Goodwill.

But plans to improve the Rhinefield and Boldrewood Ornamental Drive, near Brockenhurst, and develop new cycle facilities at Moors Valley Country Park have been thrown out.

The DfT said that the two proposals were “not as ambitious” as the original Boris bikes-style scheme.

NPA chairman Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre said: “We’re very pleased that four of the six alternative projects have been approved by the DfT and that more than £2m will be spent locally.

“We’re obviously disappointed that two of the projects were not given the go-ahead.”