Under the Boadwalk...

the site of the new 'boadwork' cycleway

Monday the 16th March sees the Planning & Rights of Way Panel consider an application for the City Council to create a million pound scheme to create a cycleway along the Itchen between Northam Bridge and Horseshoe bridge in St Denys.

I am pleased (and relieved) that the clear Officer recommendation is to approve the application- in fact, I expect it to sail through. For information, the report can be read under item 5 HERE.

The project is in fact quite unusual as although the City Council is in fact the client, the project is being managed by Sustrans which is a charity dedicated to sustainable transport and particularly cycling. I signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Sustrans on the 20th November last year on behalf of the council.

To enable the project, a grant of some £450k from the lottery fund is forthcoming as a result of the scheme winning part of the great £50million lottery giveaway. The level of interest locally was considerable and I was glad to be able to support the campaign.

For once, Network Rail were also very supportive corporately. They had to do a considerable amount of piling to stop their railway falling into the Itchen in 2007 and being aware of the project, carried out the works allowing space for the boardwork; in fact without that piling, the project wouldn't have been viable.

If all goes well, construction work should start in April with a completion date of October this year. Exciting times.