Chesterfield cycle path set for go-ahead as Chatsworth Road and Crow Lane sections divide opinion

Its detractors say it will become a dangerous and ill-thought out 'cycle superhighway' which closes vital roads to cars and does little to reduce congestion or pollution.

Ever since the £1.6m proposal to create an east-to-west cycling and walking route across the town was first mooted in March, it has divided opinion.

The Government has awarded Derbyshire County Council the cash to create the route, and the proposal is now expected to be agreed by councillors at a meeting on Thursday, October 14.

The path will take cyclists and pedestrians from the A619 junction with Holymoor Road, along Chatsworth Road and the existing Hipper Valley Trail, through Queen’s Park, past the train station and to the hospital and beyond by using Crow Lane and Wetlands Lane.

It is the sections at either end – along Chatsworth Road and up Crow Lane towards Chesterfield Royal Hospital – which have proved so controversial to some.

Chesterfield Civic Society has campaigned against the Chatsworth Road section, saying it is dangerous and will create a ‘cycle superhighway’.

Chairman Philip Riden said: “Its construction will make Chatsworth Road dangerously narrow for the heavy traffic it carries; it will adversely affect the appearance of an attractive residential area; and it will impede access to and from properties fronting Chatsworth Road, including a sheltered housing complex, a busy medical centre and a large secondary school.”

The society has also criticised the county council’s consultation on the proposal, which it insists is ‘fatally flawed’.

Mr Riden said in a letter to County Hall: “If the county council announces its intention to proceed with the scheme on the basis of that ‘consultation’, the civic society will lay this evidence before the Local Government Ombudsman and the Secretary of State, accompanied by a request that the county council be not permitted to proceed with the scheme.”

The Chatsworth Road section has also been labelled a ‘missed opportunity’.

Town MP Toby Perkins criticised the council for choosing a ‘poorer route’ for the path by taking it along Chatsworth Road – instead of a cross-country path from Somersall to Holymoorside which has been in the pipeline for many years.

Council leaders informed landowners that plans for the cross-country route, connecting Somersall Lane to Greendale Avenue and known as the Hipper Valley Trail, had been scrapped in March.

Retired Chesterfield GP Dr Brendan Ryan, who has called for safe commuting routes across the town, said the cross-country path would have been less than 1km long and solved school run parking issues at several local schools.

However, the council says it has to ‘concentrate money’ on projects it can quickly bring to fruition and many cyclists have welcomed the Chatsworth Road plans.

The Chesterfield Cycle Campaign agrees a reduction in the speed limit and a protected cycling path should be welcomed as a ‘step change for cycle infrastructure in Chesterfield’.

Secretary Alastair Meikle said this week: “We urge Derbyshire County Councillors to realise the many benefits for Chesterfield residents and the local economy from building the Chesterfield east-to-west cycle route and to approve a scheme which will make it safer for many people to cycle in Chesterfield.

"Given the many benefits of increased cycling, building cycle routes offers excellent value for money.”

The campaign has also unveiled research showing the economic benefits of people cycling in the town are almost £6 million per year.

This includes health benefits associated with savings to the NHS through avoided serious illnesses as well as business benefits from the reduction in congestion.

Since the start of the pandemic there has been a surge in cycling in Chesterfield.

The campaign has pointed to Government statistics showing that from November, 2019 to November, 2020, more than 5,000 additional Chesterfield residents cycled at least once a month compared with the same period in the previous year.

After passing through Queen’s Park and past the railway station, the route then reaches another controversial section as it climbs up Crow Lane towards Calow and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

The road was first closed to traffic in June amid the pandemic using emergency Government cash – and has since become a key element of the route.

A group of residents objected to the ‘undemocratic’ closure of the road – with hundreds of people signing a petition last year to reopen it amid claims they were not consulted.

Residents’ spokesperson Kathleen Carlile said: "We are not anti-cyclist, anti-walkers or anti the environment but this is our lane and a vitally important route for local people.”

Kathleen said 711 people had now signed a petition in favour of Crow Lane reopening and in a recent survey by MP Toby Perkins 78 per cent of residents said they wanted it reopening.

The county council says its recent consultation on the total route included 1,182 responses, with 71 per cent being positive about the plans, nine per cent neither positive or negative and 20 per cent negative about them.

Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, cabinet member for highways, assets and transport, said: “I’m pleased that so many people were so positive about this new cycling and walking route for the town and would like to thank all those who responded to the consultation.

“It will help many people to walk or cycle into the town centre, to the railway station and the hospital.

“If my cabinet colleagues agree with the plans then we will carry on with the detailed design work.

"I’d expect us to start work before the end of the year, with an aspiration to hopefully finish the route by the end of March 2022.”