Five Weirs Walk campaigners in Sheffield hail 'positive' step in seven-year battle to restore unique path
Pressure to reopen the much-loved route continues to grow as ‘active travel’ gains importance
It is seven years since Sheffield’s best-loved path was destroyed in a storm - now campaigners believe there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
The Five Weirs Walk, which runs for five miles along the River Don, offers a unique mix of history, industry and nature, complete with information boards, walkways and decorative archways.
It stretches from the city centre to Meadowhall on a picturesque and varied route, and connects with towpaths on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, creating the popular Blue Loop circular back to the city centre.
The FWW involved 20 years of work by volunteers, with the first section opening in 1991.
But a walkway close to Washford Bridge on Attercliffe Road was swept away in 2019 and has been shut ever since. Users have to detour for half-a-mile on unsigned roads.
Seven years on, and pressure to repair the path and restore one of the city’s best off-road routes to glory continues to grow.
In November, the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust - formerly Sustrans - produced a repair plan for Sheffield City Council.
Now, the authority has issued an update to the Friends of the Five Weirs Walk that has given them cause for optimism.
It states it is ‘pleased’ to have a feasibility report and says it is a ‘good foundation’ to build on, including for finding funding.
It plans to bring ‘relevant service areas together’ to fully consider the report and agree how to progress this ‘complex and costly repair work with our partners’.
But it urges patience, warning it is ‘fully committed’ and carving out resources and programming ‘needs thinking through’.
Simon Ogden, former secretary of the FWW Trust 1986-2006, acknowledged it was “still very tentative” but said if the commitment was honoured in a timely fashion it could allow the start of constructive working between the council and partners after seven years.
He added: “We appeal to elected members and senior officers to ensure that this offer is now followed up rapidly and with high level support and conviction.
“Budgets may be tight, but this should not be an excuse for officers and politicians to withhold support and collaboration to willing partners offering to bring additional energy, expertise and funding ideas to the table.”
In the last seven years ‘active travel’ - walking and cycling - has become high priority, with millions being spent on bike lanes across the city.
At the same time, Attercliffe is on the cusp of a population boom, with hundreds of residents expected to commute into the city centre every day.
Developer Citu is building a huge eco-home estate in the suburb and says a new bike lane, under construction through the district centre, and the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal towpath are its 'most important feature'.
David Slater of the Attercliffe Business Connection summed up the situation.
He said: “With up to 2,000 new homes in the pipeline, Attercliffe is once again becoming a place to live as well as work. This is definitely not the time to allow a critical asset like the FWW to be thrown away by council inertia.”
Gerry Bennet, of the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust in Sheffield, said: “At a time when active travel is a priority for central, regional and local government we mustn’t let it be lost.”
Mr Ogden believes the delay has several causes, including austerity and shrinking local government resources.
Another issue is the PFI highway maintenance contract with Amey which has removed some discretion from the council over maintenance.
But a major factor is that council transport planners no longer regard long distance, ‘blue or green routes’ such as the FWW as a serious part of the ‘active travel network’ but simply as ‘leisure routes’ – nice to have but neither essential nor strategic, Mr Ogden says.
It has also been moved from the transport department to parks and countryside with its “far smaller budgets and staff resources.”
He added: “The walk offers so much, including easy gradients in an otherwise hilly city, greater safety for children and less confident or mobile users, good air quality, access to nature for mental and physical well being and legibility, all of which attract regular and long-term use.
“These trails also allow easy access for river channel maintenance and for water quality, ecological and pollution reporting by the EA and citizen scientists as well as more genuine leisure uses such as fishing, kayaking and tourism.
“They can also create the setting for new inner city neighbourhoods such as Kelham Island, Attercliffe Waterside and the Porter Quarter.”
Mr Ogden is also at pains to point out that the original FWW was funded by private developers, notably the Meadowhall Centre, regeneration programmes and charitable grants – a total of around £7.5m at 2006 prices.
After seven years, an array of partners with fundraising expertise still have the enthusiasm, they just need a proposal to get behind.