Agenda item

Gill Millward presented a report on the progress towards the delivery of Derbyshire’s Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

Gill reported that DCC had been successful in securing just over £3 million from Active Travel England (Tranche 4), and this was going to Cabinet the following day for approval to accept the grant.  £2.73 million was awarded to fund the construction of a multi-user Greenway between the National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 54 Millennium Cycleway at Duffield Road in Little Eaton and Rawson Green in Kilburn as part of a longer route eventually connecting Ripley into Derby City. The remaining amount of £275k will fund further development and feasibility work to help progress connecting the White Peak Loop from the end of the Monsal Trail at Topley Pike into and across Buxton Town Centre to Harpur Hill.

Other work is on-going in relation to the Via Gellia (A5012) safer road scheme, and Gill thanked Martin Bennett for providing comments on that scheme.  The work should improve not just road safety, but also the safety of footpath users on routes that come into that area.

Charlotte Gilbert reported on the work on Unrecorded Ways which will now extend for a further 5 years until 1 January 2031.  This would add to the bottleneck of Definitive Map Modification Orders, but was still the best way to bring about bridleway network improvements.  DCC is dealing with these Orders on a first come, first served basis.  There are over 300 waiting to be reviewed and maybe there needs to be a way of prioritising how the updating work is done. Work is continuing on the Pennine Bridleway.

Charlotte asked for an update on the experimental Traffic Regulation Order consultation at Bamford Clough. Rob Greatorex advised that he had a draft paper to look at in order for it to go to the Cabinet Member to make a decision, which would be made this year.

Charlotte asked for an update on Pindale. Rob confirmed that remedial works were required, but would need to check with colleagues exactly where things were up to currently.

Martin referred back to the discussion on Via Gellia as he was there over at the weekend and advised that one way is lethal on the Middleton footpath.  He also stated that the involvement of Active Travel was good, but cycling needs pushing at scale and pace.