HS2 could decimate a brand new £1.2m greenway, a local cycle tourism programme, cut off up to ten interconnected cycling and walking routes, and destroy future active travel links in Derbyshire, by failing to plan bridges and tunnels, road.cc has learned.
Derbyshire County Council is still building the (£1.2m) Clowne Branch Greenway, a 7.4km long traffic free cycling and walking route on a former railway line, but it could become a dead end once HS2, is built, ‘obliterating’ part of the Greenway. Campaigners are concerned HS2 Ltd has failed to acknowledge cycle routes in plans, despite their being highlighted in earlier consultations.
Last year HS2 Ltd was accused of backing down on its commitments to ‘cycle proof’ the rail line by providing bridges and tunnels for cycling, while this year a freedom of information request revealed scrapped plans for a cycle network within a three mile corridor of the line would have reaped five times greater returns than the high speed rail route itself.
The Clowne Branch Greenway, linking Cresswell and Staveley, is a key part of the county’s cycle network plans, and one of around ten existing or planned cycling and walking connections in Derbyshire, some twenty years in the planning, under threat from HS2.
Sleepwalking into obliteration?
Although it is not too late to save the network Steve Crapper, of Ride Bolsover, the local cycling campaign, told road.cc if action is not taken two branches of the HS2 line, the main route and a branch line to a depot, will together “obliterate a large area of the Greenway”.
Crapper says HS2 Ltd hasn’t yet taken these into account in plans, after being made aware of them in earlier consultation. Derbyshire County Council plans to link several cycle routes together, hoping cycle tourists will help boost the local economy.
“With a trend towards gravel biking and bike packing there’s a massive amount of tourism to unlock if you can connect all of these trails together. It’s an amazing opportunity that’s not being prioritised,” he said.
An as yet unbuilt route between Staveley and Hardwick Hall, a popular National Trust property, could be one of the most valuable links in the National Cycle Network, according to Sustrans co-founder, John Grimshaw. He says if built, a new 8km section would connect 40km of cycle route.
HS2 line could ‘obliterate’ brand new £1.2m greenway | road.cc
HS2 could decimate a brand new £1.2m greenway, a local cycle tourism programme, cut off up to ten interconnected cycling and walking routes, and destroy future active travel links in Derbyshire, by failing to plan bridges and tunnels, road.cc has learned. Derbyshire County Council is still building the (£1.2m) Clowne Branch Greenway, a 7.4km long… [Read More]
