HVCA submit their response to National Park Active Travel consultation
Hope Valley Climate Action welcomes the NPA’s strategic active travel routes consultation. Our objective is to make walking, wheeling and cycling the first choice mode of travel for short journeys by residents and visitors. This requires a network of safe, attractive, all-ability routes linked to places that people want to visit.
There are multiple benefits from active travel. HVCA’s aims to tackle climate change by decarbonising travel. Active travel [AT] has the potential to reduce car use. It also promotes health and well-being. Active travel is an important social activity, including for people who are less mobile and who may not have access to private vehicles. It contributes to the local economy; for example through cafes, pubs, restaurants, visitor accommodation, outdoor equipment shops and bike hire.
The proposed Plan is very welcome. Even more important is investment in AT by Active Travel England [ATE], the Mayoral Authority, and many other organisations. We note that in Scotland 10% of the 2024-25 national transport budget is devoted to active travel. A similar allocation in England would transform the current inadequate provision.
It is vital that the NP Plan complements and supports the Active Travel Masterplan for the Hope Valley being created by the County Council.
We want the NP Plan and the DCC Plan to be ambitious, raising the sights of local people and public authorities about what may be possible. Small-scale, piecemeal improvements are useful but not enough.
At the same time, we urgently require visible ‘quick wins’: projects which can be achieved now, without major infrastructure. This could include, for example, selective low speed limits and safe road crossings.
We note a tendency to refer to the ‘strategic cycle network’. Active travel is about walking and wheeling as well as cycling. The NPA vocabulary should always relate to all modes and all abilities. The needs of cyclists are only part of the story.
Active travel is part of a wider sustainable travel picture. It is the top of the transport planning pyramid. The next layer is high quality public transport. Any AT network should link with, and support, public transport. This means physical links to rail stations, easy bike and buggy carriage on trains and buses, and public transport provision that dovetails with AT routes. Too many of the Park’s current AT routes assume that people will drive to the starting point.
Active travel routes should be attractive and safe. A narrow strip of tarmac adjacent to a busy road meets neither of these criteria. Any multi-user AT route should, in line with national standards, be at least three metres wide and should be physically separated from any main road. Parents should feel that their young children will be safe from traffic.
ATE’s objective is to boost the number of local journeys being walked, wheeled or cycled, helping to make active travel a part of everyday life. This means short trips to schools, workplaces, shops and clinics, as well as the start of longer journeys. Every journey begins with a walk. The NP’s plan should shift focus towards local provision which can benefit residents and visitors, and away from making expensive provision for leisure activities for minority interests such as horse riding.
We welcome the proposal for a spine ‘multi user trail’ along the length of the Hope Valley, from Castleton to Baslow. It should meet the criteria set out above. The current short section between Sickleholme and Hathersage falls short of the required standard. Down the Valley from Hathersage, a dedicated route away from the main road would be the best option. The Hope Valley plan should be integrated with plans for a Derwent Valley Cycleway, subject to the points made earlier about walking and wheeling as well as cycling.
We stress the importance of the ‘secondary network’: routes that link to each village and train station. Some Hope Valley villages, specifically Bradwell, Bamford and Eyam, are not on the main Valley road. Thought also needs to be given to safe access to Edale. Routes within villages are often as important as routes between villages. Each village requires specific attention in the County’s AT Masterplan.
For the more energetic cyclists, and recognising the increasing importance of e-bikes and the mobility that they offer, safe routes are required from the west of the Valley, towards Manchester, and to the east towards Sheffield.
The National Cycle Network [NCN 6] route eastwards from Castleton is not well publicised at present. It uses minor roads, for the most part. Designating these, and other back roads, as ‘quiet lanes’ with low speed limits and priority for walkers, wheelers and cyclists would be a valuable contribution to the local AT network.
HVCA is ready to assist the NPA and the County Council to develop their plans, particularly by:
- With local residents, organising one or more meetings in each village about active travel, including the County’s AT Masterplan
- Encouraging local people to consider how they could be more active now, and what ‘quick wins’ would make AT safer and more attractive
- Continuing to work on other aspects of sustainable travel, including pressing for high quality, integrated rail and bus services
- Working with public authorities on traffic reduction measures.
