Chesterfield and District Civic Society have arranged a public meeting with Toby Perkins MP, to discuss the Chesterfield East-West Walking and Cycling Route, following Derbyshire County Council’s recent decision to proceed with the scheme.
The meeting will be held at Brookfield Community School Hall on Thursday 11 November 2021 from 7.30–9.00 p.m.
All local residents are invited to come along and express their views to their Member of Parliament about the route.
All County Council and Borough Council elected members representing divisions and wards on the route have been invited.
5 responses to “Public Meeting to Discuss Walking and Cycling Route”
I think this is a fantastic initiative that supports the health & wellbeing of Chesterfield residents and will help Chesterfield to develop a clean air zone.
Thank you for your comment. As with all these types of schemes, there are bound to be those in favour and those against. The Civic Society is not anti-cyclist. We believe that there are other safer alternatives to the plans now agreed by the county council for the western part of this cycling and walking route. We also think that the public consultation undertaken by/for the council has not been fit-for-purpose. The plan was originally opposed by many residents and this opposition has not dissipated. It’s for these reasons, and those stated on our website, that we have objected to the scheme.
This is the first I have heard of the civic society in the 7 years since we moved here. Thankyou for raising this. I have spoken personally to Paul Niblick and written to Toby Perkins expressing my thoughts – the totally unnecessary horror that Chatsworth road will become (instead of just unpleasant but necessary) if this is implemented. As a fairly frequent cyclist to / through Holymoorside from Linden Avenue, I would not dream of using this route as it is too noisy and polluted, but continue to use Walton Back Lane – no paradigm of safety itself. See you Thursday 11th
Regards
Thanks for your comments. The Civic Society has become increasingly active since it was effectively relaunched a few years ago. You’re welcoem to join us, of course, but thanks for your message of support on this issue.
Just to add my own comments to those of my colleague Philip Cousins. The Civic Society has become more active in the last couple of years. In this case we are not opposed to encouraging more cycling in Chesterfield, but we are opposed to closing Crow Lane to motor traffic when 711 people have signed a petition asking for it to be reopened, and we are opposed to building a cycle track down Chatsworth Road. This will make the road narrower for motor vehicles, especially HGVs. It is not a case of discouraging people cycling more and using their cars less, more a case of keeping a major route in and out of Chesterfield moving as freely as possible. A much better cycle route could be created using the existing footpath between Greendale Avenue and Somersall Lane.
There a number of relevant documents on our website about the cycle route, which you may like to look at before Thursday’s meeting to get more background on this issue. I am very pleased you can come to the meeting.
Philip Riden
Chairman
Chesterfield and District Civic Society