Peaks & Puddles
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 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.
Middlewood Way is closed for four weeks just north of Bollington Viaduct as Cheshire East undertake resurfacing and improvement works to the trail, part of NCN Route 55, which runs from Marple to Macclesfield.
The Peak District National Park has announced two weeks of temporary closures for parts of the Monsal Trail, the former railway line from Bakewell to Millers Dale, near Buxton.
Two more nearby Bee Network schemes are taking a slow step forward as Stockport launches an interactive comments map for their Heatons and Romiley active neighbourhood schemes, aimed at reducing car dominance to improve walking and cycling.
This flood-prone rural bridleway on the very edge of Greater Manchester has just had a second round of major improvement works, extending the Flexipave surface begun in 2018 and fixing the drainage problem at the heart of its woes.
One of the most popular Goyt Valley footpaths will be closed completely until November for major works, as the forest alongside Fernilee Reservoir undergoes a once in a lifetime change.
The first phase of Cheshire East’s Emergency Active Travel Fund allocation will go towards allowing cycling through town centre pedestrian zones along with restricting through traffic and adding 20mph limits speed to a handful of other roads.
Before a certain global pandemic and nationwide lockdown scuppered everything, the Canal & River Trust had a welcome slate of work to repair some of the worst patches of the Upper Peak Forest Canal between Marple and Disley. Now they’re back.
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.