Official opening of Wendover's newest Cycle Path

Many of you reading this blog took action last Autumn and helped to save the newest cycle path in Wendover.

Bucks County Council has recently invited those interested in the Cycle Path to the official opening. Peter Hardy, Cabinet Member for Bucks County Council (BCC) and Wendover Parish Council will be there on 1 March alongside children from local schools (see flyer from BCC).

If you can't make the opening, I hope you enjoy using the path, or enjoy watching others do so, or simply be pleased that another few miles of safe cycling has been enabled in our beautiful village, helping us all to live greener and healthier lives :)

Do pass this good news on to those who might have helped you to save the cycle path - more info is available at the official cycling website for Wendover http://www.getwendovercycling.org/ 

Cycle route preparation continues into the New Year

Work continues on many sections of the cycle route along both Manor Road and Tring Road.


We hope one of your New Year's resolutions is to get your bike dusted off, oiled up and ready to ride along the new red-topped route when it is completed.

Cycle route work is underway

As you may have seen, the work on the cycle route is underway. The initial work to widen the pavements for the benefit of all pavement users has started on Manor Road in Wendover.

Thanks to everyone for being patient while the works get underway, it just shows us all how much practical work is involved in keeping cyclists safe.

The Bucks County Council project manager for the route has updated us about the progress, which is all on track: work will soon happen to smooth out the widened pavements with a red -coloured topping that finishes off the shared path to a nice, clean, smooth surface.

This is the first installation of a cycle path in Wendover for over 4 years, I hope we will be using it in the New Year.

Great news! Cycle path to be installed.

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/news/cycle_path.page?


Published on 28 October on the Bucks County Council website.

Thanks to you all for the immensely vocal support and hard work over
the past four weeks.

Latest news: decision time for BCC

Some of you have asked what is happening with the cycle route as it has indeed gone quiet since the official close of the latest "consultation" on 14 October. By way of a holding news update:

Bucks County Council officers have made a final recommendation to go ahead with the Princess Mary Gate cycle route following the October consultation (directly with Manor Road residents, and inputted to by a number of other Wendover residents), a safety audit and a gathering of all evidence for and against the route (including the WPC vote against).

The formal process that now needs to be followed is that before a final decision is made, BCC are legally obliged to display this recommendation publicly for five days in a key decision report. This 'key decision report' is here: http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/moderngov/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=2501

We understand that if no other objections (not already raised) are brought up then the decision (which I understand will be made on Friday 28 October) should be in favour of the route and work should start within three weeks. 

 

Thanks for all your help so far and please do forward this latest "holding news" onto contacts who have helped with this campaign.

We look forward to finding out officially and finally that the route is going ahead, seeing it created and using it!

Its not too late to save our cycle route - keep writing until 14 Oct

What are we trying to save?

We are trying to save a cycle route that has been promised to the residents at the Princess Mary Gate in Wendover for over three years. It is under threat because Wendover Parish Council has recently and at the last minute voted against it. In the week of Monday 10 October, Bucks County Council starts to make a final decision about this route.

Who can save the cycle route?

Bucks County Council will make their final decision this week (ending 14 Oct) whether to let the work go ahead in November 2011, or whether to postpone the work. It will take you five minutes to email Bucks County Council - if you want to save the route, sending an email in the next few days to Peter Hardy at BCC could make a big difference: the more people he hears from who support the route the better. 

Why does this matter?

If the work is postponed now, almost half of the funding will have to be given back, and the cycle route may never happen. A sustainable cycle route is the right of people living on the Princess Mary Gate development and all down the route into Wendover. It was promised over three years ago in the planning permission: the developers had to provide funding for a cycle route between the new houses and Wendover’s schools and High Street.

What are the arguments for and against the route?

Residents on another section of the route (Manor Road, near the schools) would have a ‘pavement-route’ outside their property and have expressed concerns about safety.

We think these safety concerns could be addressed in the route design, however, the Parish Council has overruled the team working on the design. On the other hand, many people cycle to the schools with their children, or to Wendover and to postpone the route would put them in danger along a very busy stretch of roads in Wendover without any dedicated cycle route.

What can I do if I support the cycle route?
Write directly to Councillor Peter Hardy at BCC and copy in Simon Glover at BCC.

Peter Hardy's email address is phardy@buckscc.gov.uk  (Peter is the final decision maker about the route).
Simon Glover's email address is sglover@buckscc.gov.uk (Simon is officially gathering responses about the route).

BCC’s final decision making process finishes in mid-October. If you want your cycle route installed as soon as possible and so we don’t lose this investment in our area, write to BCC by 14 October.