Pedal Peak II - latest news

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Pedal Peak ll – Moving up a Gear

Project Newsletter January 2016

White Peak Loop

White Peak Loop East – Matlock area:

Phase l between Matlock and Old Road, Darley Dale. Agreement has now been reached with Peak Rail over the final outstanding issue relating to the design of the proposed rail crossing and work is due to start on site in February 2016.

Phase 2 through the Whitworth Park between Station Road, Darley Dale and Church Road, Churchtown received planning approval in December 2015. As one of the sections on this phase is important for amphibians, work will not start on site on this section until after the end of April.

Phase 3 between Church Road, Churchtown and Harrison Way, Northwood - work is completed on the section alongside the railway between the southern end of the Peak Rail car park and Church Road. Several County Council work teams are on site working on the remainder of this phase including the highway sections at either end.

Phase 4 between Harrison Way and Old Station Close, Rowsley has received planning permission and work is due to start on site in January 2016.


Work is also progressing on the section between Rowsley and Bakewell. Negotiations are ongoing with Peak Rail over the A6 road crossing and a number of bat surveys have been carried out over the summer months in the Haddon Tunnel to look at roosting and swarming activity. The red dots in the picture attached, taken with a thermal imaging camera in July, shows 2 bat roosts high up in one of the breeze block end walls of the tunnel. A recent meeting with Natural England reviewing survey work already carried out and discussing possible mitigation measures was positive. The next stage is to liaise with relevant groups and organisations and work up more detailed designs. As reported before, these issues will mean that this section will not be completed before the current project finishes.


White Peak Loop West – Buxton area:
Harpur-Staker Hill – work started on site at the end of July to build the 3km off road section linking Dale Head Road, over Staker Hill, around the line of the former railway and down to the Parks Inn pub in the centre of Harpur Hill. There was a slight hold up and some excitement when a couple of bombs were uncovered along the line of the new route, which brought the Bomb Disposal Team out from Nottingham but in spite of that work has progressed well on site.

The route is largely completed on the ground apart from the fact that we have had to temorarily stop the trail 200m short of the pub at the top of Fiddle Street while we carry out some final negotiations with local landowners over access agreements and getting the route past a live power transformer. As a result the route is only available to pedestrians at the moment and will not be available to cyclists until there is a completed link to join the highway. More information will be provided on the website as soon as this is resolved.


The safety improvement works on the Wyedale section of the Monsal Trail between Topley Pike and the western end of the trail are complete and the route has been reopened. Work to explore options to develop the onward link into Buxton will not start until all of the outstanding build elements that require delivery on the ground before the end of March have been resolved.
Wyedale section


Hope Valley Link

The results of the public consultation on options for Phase ll between Bamford and Hope and wider cycling improvements in the Hope Valley are now available to be viewed on Derbyshire County Council’s webpage for the Hope Valley Link. Sustrans have submitted their Project report and it has become apparent that it is not going to be possible to consider all of the suggestions and options properly within the timescales and budget that the Pedal Peak Project is working to. In order to do justice to the consultation and the level of interest and support for cycling in the Hope Valley, members have agreed that officers should put time into designing a scheme or series of schemes, with more widespread local support, which can be used as the basis for bidding for future funding opportunities


Cycle Friendly Places Grant

The final grant to be awarded from this programme was to the Lindley Educational Trust in partnership with Dukes Barn and Thornbridge Outdoor Centre for shared provision of a variety of cycle racks, washing areas, cycle trailer and other cycling equipment at its Centre to encourage participation in the new Little John and White Peak Loop routes and cycling in general throughout the area.

All the funds available through this Grant have now been allocated and a full report of how the grant has been allocated and how much match funding has been generated will be produced as part of the end of Project report.


Staffordshire Moorlands Link

Staffordshire Moorland Link
This scheme is now complete with 23km of new or improved routes providing links along the Caldon Canal from Stoke on Trent to Leek and then via minor roads from Cheddleton to the Manifold Trail at Waterhouses and also out northwards to the Roaches and Tittesworth Reservoir.


Little Don Link

The first section of the Little Don Link within Sheffield, a 1.4km new trail between Hunshelf Road in Stocksbridge and Underbank Lane on the Sheffield/Barnsley border has been completed. This section will be linked via a signed route on minor roads to join up with the sections of the route that have already been completed in Barnsley around Dunford Bridge and Bullhouses reported in the previous newsletter (August 2015).



Share with care
The Pedal Peak Project is sponsoring several schemes including a project to promote responsible use of the trails network throughout the wider Peak District area under the “Share with Care” banner to encourage people to respect other users that they meet on the trails. Look out for these symbols on the trails in the Pedal Peak area.

We are also trialling an electronic interactive cycle map currently available on the Peak District National Park website and designing a series of interpretative panels to be erected along the new trails.


For more on the Cycle Friendly Places Grant: http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/cycle/peak-district-cycle-friendly-places-fund

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