Major new Chesterfield cycle path set for green light next week

The Government has awarded Derbyshire County Council more than £1.6m to create the new route for cyclists and pedestrians – with the proposal expected to be agreed at a meeting on October 14.

The route, which it has been confirmed will include a section along Chatsworth Road, through Queen’s Park and Crow Lane, has been criticised by some groups.

It will go 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.

The plans for the route include improving existing sections by widening and resurfacing.

The county council says a recent consultation 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.

However, the consultation has been criticised by Chesterfield Civic Society – which says the Chatsworth Road section is dangerous.

Chairman Philip 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.”

Councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, the council’s 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.”