Peaks & Puddles
The Peak District National Park Authority encourages motorists to “park and protect” by using one of the 2,000 spaces at its 45 car parks, but a recent enquiry showed it is completely unable, and seemingly unwilling, to list and promote the availability of places to lock a bicycle.
Transport for Greater Manchester and the region’s Combined Authority have completed an important step in the implementation of their Bee Network walking and cycling plans, publishing an Active Travel Design Guide that sets out the key rules for designing future schemes in its ten boroughs.
Derbyshire County Council has now completed installation of the six cycle stands promised earlier this year for the High Peak town of Whaley Bridge — its first official bicycle parking.
When Robert Largan claimed on his Facebook page and a local media column last November that “after extensive lobbying” he had secured a £1.7 million investment in “local cycling and walking”, he was sadly being somewhat loose with the truth: it has now been confirmed his own High Peak constituency won’t receive a single penny from the money given to Derbyshire.
Derbyshire County Council has confirmed Whaley Bridge and Chinley will be the first locations in the High Peak in line for a new bumper crop of cycle parking stands, to be installed across the county after money was ring fenced from the first round of emergency Covid-19 active travel funding.
Derbyshire County Council has finally disclosed details of the bids it made for over £2 million from the government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund, intended to provide quick wins to improve walking and cycling conditions — and it’s good news for Chesterfield at least.
As if by magic, the impressive Torrs Gorge lying below New Mills suddenly has a brand new footbridge, re-connecting part of the Torrs Riverside Park cut off since late 2015.