Campaigner calls for completion of final section of cycle path in Sheffield which is too muddy to ride

A campaigner is calling for the completion of a ‘strategic’ cycle path which has one section so muddy that it is unridable for some.
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Dennis Patton has been campaigning for the completion of the Blackburn Valley Route, announced in 2013.

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He says it is finished apart from a section off Cowley Way in Chapeltown. As well as being inaccessible to some bikes, it is also inadequate for wheelchair or mobility scooter users, or people with other mobility or sensory impairments, he says.

Coun Douglas Johnson, co-operative executive member for climate change, environment and transport.Coun Douglas Johnson, co-operative executive member for climate change, environment and transport.
Coun Douglas Johnson, co-operative executive member for climate change, environment and transport.

WHY HAS IT NOT BEEN FINISHED?

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He added: “This section opposite the DPD depot has never been surfaced and is rutted and characterised by muddy puddles.

“It was carved up by contractors last winter making it worse. The result is arriving at work splatted and filthy, not a way to encourage cycling to work along a route that is of air quality concern.”

WHO OWNS IT?

The ‘strategic’ cycle path off Cowley Way, Chapeltown, has one section so muddy it is unridable for some, a campaigner says.The ‘strategic’ cycle path off Cowley Way, Chapeltown, has one section so muddy it is unridable for some, a campaigner says.
The ‘strategic’ cycle path off Cowley Way, Chapeltown, has one section so muddy it is unridable for some, a campaigner says.

The cycleway is four miles long and links Meadowhall to Chapeltown. It passes through the Smithy Wood Business Park near a new PLP distribution centre. The park is owned by St Paul’s Developments and Fitzalan Estates Ltd, whose correspondence address is The Duke Of Norfolk Estate Office, Arundel, West Sussex.

Mr Patton said: “Most has been ‘tarmacced’ and fenced. But there is one section off Cowley Way, Chapeltown that is not finished and no immediate prospect of it being finished.

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“I sympathise with the difficulties the council has with cuts from central government. But it is now 10 years since the last council report outlining how important the trail is strategically.

“It is not good enough. It demonstrates a failure by successive administrations in completing something as simple as a safe and accessible cycle trail.

“At least complete the entrance, that’s 200m of surfacing. The rest might survive another 10 years.”

WHAT IS THE COUNCIL SAYING?

Coun Douglas Johnson, executive member for climate change, environment and transport, said: “This section of the Blackburn Valley route is being developed as part of the planning obligations for the Smithy Wood development, which states that a new section of cycle lane must be built with every new phase of the development.

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“However, we appreciate that this is dependent on the timescales of the developer and may take some time, so we’ve also been exploring other funding options to develop the route, which is on private land. We also submitted a bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, which, unfortunately, was unsuccessful.

“Improving active travel routes is a priority for us and we’re currently developing a £50m Connecting Sheffield scheme to improve walking, cycling and public transport routes across the city.

“Our transport budget and staff resource is limited and we’re unable to deliver all of the schemes we’d like to as quickly as we’d like to. However we recognise the benefits that the Blackburn Valley Cycleway would bring to the local community and will continue to look for opportunities to fund its completion.”

A council report from 2013 states: ‘Blackburn Valley – the disused railway line between Meadowhall and Chapeltown – has been allocated as a proposed strategic cycle/footpath in the Unitary Development Plan published in the 1990s. This was to ensure there was a safe off-road alternative route for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders to the busy ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads that link these two localities and to form part of long-distance, cross- boundary routes’.

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