A public consultation has been launched today (Tuesday 1 October) on the Devon and Torbay Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) which sets out the transport priorities across the county [Devon County Council]
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Very good news for cyclists and pedestrians in the Sid Valley.
The full draft document of the plan is available to view on the Have Your Say webpage. The deadline for feedback to the online questionnaire is 11:59pm on Saturday 30 November. The plan’s vision is for well-integrated and accessible transport to facilitate sustainable growth, support net zero carbon targets by 2050 at the latest, improve travel choice and benefit people’s health and wellbeing.
The route would run from Feniton in the north, where a mainline railway station links the area to Exeter and London, to Sidmouth and NCN2 in the south. Along the proposed route are the communities of Ottery St Mary and Tipton St John.
The route roughly follows the disused railway line throughout, but due to varying states of the railway, there are sections where alternative alignments are considered. At this stage of the process the route is a concept to link up settlements. The detail of exactly where the route should go remains flexible.
The terrain of the route is hilly in most of the sections. The sections passing through the towns of Feniton, West Hill, Ottery St Mary, Sidford and Newton Poppleford is close to residential areas and the other sections are mostly agriculture land.
Concepts around this route have been in the public domain since approximately 2000, and have included various feasibility studies, appraisal papers and campaign groups. A feasibility study for the complete route was developed and published by Sustrans in April 2014.
Full details of this route can be found on pages 22 and 23 of the full draft LCWIP document.
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Route 9: SIDBURY TO SIDFORD:
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Sidbury is situated 1km to the north of Sidford, connected by the A375. Despite the short distance between the settlements, opportunities for those walking, wheeling and cycling are very limited. The A375 is not suitable for people to travel actively, regardless of ability and confidence level, and there is no dedicated active travel infrastructure.
The total length of the route is 2.5km, primarily, through agricultural fields and residential settlements in Sidbury and Sidford. It starts at Two Bridges Road near Brook Close, Sidford, passing through Hillside and Furzehill before entering Sidbury and ending at Fore Street.
The route will deliver a long-standing ambition to connect Sidbury and Sidford via an active travel route, enabling sustainable journeys and access to the natural environment between the settlements and onwards towards Sidmouth, and the seafront leisure opportunities.
Full details of this route can be found on pages 24 and 25 of the full draft LCWIP document.
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Pretty much everyone seems to be in favour of a safe bicyclist/pedestrian route between Sidford and Sidbury – although when it comes to the current proposals, “backing for the new route is flagging”, or, as covered by the Herald, support for this planning application is losing support’.
This planning application will be considered by the county council – and in the meantime, this consultation on Devon’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) offers further opportunity for input on the specific proposals:
To give a few further details:
The consultation will run from Tuesday 1 October 2024 to Saturday 30 November 2024.
Please read the information provided below to find out more about the Countywide LCWIP. For more information please refer to the full draft document, which can be found here. Alternatively, there is a fully accessible version of the document here. A summary of the routes, as shown below, is also here. To give your views on the proposals, please fill out the questionnaire – this will provide the project team with direct feedback.
Proposed Routes:
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Following the identification of key desire lines, 10 routes for improvement are proposed as part of the LCWIP. This aims to focus investment on corridors identified as having high demand or are forecasted to have high potential for active travel. The LCWIP does not include detailed plans for every route or identify every aspiration for active travel improvements across the county. The routes are set out in an east-to-west order, relative to their geography.
