Peaks & Puddles
Safeguarding the multi-user Monsal and Longdendale trails purely for recreation, rather than railway reinstatement, is proposed as part of the Peak District National Park Authority’s Local Plan Review. To make the change, and to improve other policies to prevent car-centric development, you need to have your say.
Work to rebuild the Shallcross Incline Greenway in Whaley Bridge has finally begun, more than three years after the already-poor surface was severely damaged in 2019’s rain storms.
Stockport Council has trialled a single closure point to stop queue-jumping on a residential road off the A6 at the High Lane — a move which, if made permanent, could also provide up to half the length of a safe cycling route along this busy travel corridor.
The historic Iron Bridge connecting Brabyns Park in Marple with Rollins Lane in Compstall is currently closed for repair, blocking a key route for walking and riding across the River Goyt.
Cheshire East’s new £53m Poynton Relief Road will open exclusively for walking, cycling and wheeling for one weekend only, before opening to general motor traffic from Monday, 6th March.
Derbyshire County Council are installing a permanent replacement for a High Peak Trail bridge destroyed by an HGV driver, requiring the multi-user path and road to be closed for four weeks.
Update February 2023: After extending the closure into 2023, Severn Trent Water now confirms “the route is now open however there are large timber trucks using the route, please be careful when using the tracks.” From today, Monday 12th September 2022, a large section of the route around the Upper Derwent Valley reservoirs is due to be closed to all users. For up to an estimated three months, it won’t be possible to complete a loop of the Derwent and Howden reservoirs.
A new road closure order covering “all users” has just appeared for the one-way road between Errwood Reservoir and Derbyshire Bridge in the Peak District’s Upper Goyt Valley near Buxton.
“If the Authority is at all serious about enabling a sustainable future for itself, it needs to ensure that every car park it manages also has secure cycle parking available, in good numbers, as soon as possible.” That’s the challenge I put to the Peak District National Park, and I’m beyond chuffed that they’ve already responded.
Work on the permanent and timed closure of roads around Stockport’s Market Place and Underbanks is nearing completion, with the removal of through motor traffic immediately improving walking, cycling and socialising in the booming Old Town.