Villagers in push for cycle path say Sunak could pay

A LOCAL authority facing mounting calls to create safe cycling and walking routes between villages and market towns has been urged to press the Chancellor to fund the schemes.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Richmond constituency committee heard that Rishi Sunak had backed a campaign to create a route for pedestrians and cyclists between Gilling West and Richmond.

The campaign, which Gilling West residents say comes after decades of the council ignoring pleas for a sustainable travel route to the town, follows demand for safe walking and cycling routes rising after lockdown and the Government announcing it would fund their development.

It also follows the authority receiving calls from a number of villages, including Catterick and Great Ayton, to develop the routes.

Campaigner Janette Povey told the meeting some 760 villagers had signed a petition to the authority, highlighting how children who attended schools in Richmond were provided with free school transport as the road was deemed too dangerous, despite the two- mile distance usually being considered walkable by the authority.

She said traffic had markedly increased in recent years owing to more than 30 businesses being located along the route, while blind bends and the narrow lane exacerbated the risks pedestrians and cyclists faced.

Ms Povey said: “This is of huge concern locally. Our petition gathered hundreds of signatures in just a few days. There isn’t an alternative, viableorpracticalroute.

“The designated footpath is not a safe or inclusive path. It isn’t suitable for pushchairs, cyclists or the disabled as it requires folk

to navigate ploughed fields, stiles, livestock and a golf course.

“I would urge you to not just consider cycle paths in areas where they would be easy and cheap to construct, but to think about the more challenging but more dangerous routes which members of the public, me included, have been asking you to address for many years.”

Councillor Heather Moorhouse told the meeting she understood why the residents wanted the cycle path and wished them luck – adding that despite 15 years of work and a sizeable committee behind it, funding had yet to be secured for a cycle path from Stokesley to Great Ayton.

Upper Dales councillor Yvonne Peacock added that there were ambitions for similar schemes in her area and called on the authority to have lists of suitable schemes ready for when government grants are available to use for them.