Chudleigh – a sustainable community?
In November 2019, thanks to a donation from County Cllr Jerry Brook, the Town Council commissioned a site visit to Chudleigh from Sustrans, a registered charity that supports communities in active travel provision. The initial purpose of the visit was to discuss school safety and documentation was provided to Sustrans from the School Road Safety Group, Mrs England (Headteacher), local Childminders, Parents and the Town Council: the visit took the whole day. It involved detailed talks with stakeholders, a walk around Chudleigh to identify areas of safety concern, areas with potential for positive change, and monitoring at school pick up. As part of the discussions it became obvious this wasn’t an isolated ‘school safety’ project – we needed to be looking at active travel solutions for all of Chudleigh.
The visit was the first step towards a more sustainable community, and a report was presented to Full Council in March 2020 by Councillor Karen Castle and Dr Emily Simcock. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the report was put on hold in order to manage the Community Covid Task Force, but in Sept 2020, Councillors agreed to set up an Active Travel Working Group. The Group, led by Councillor Martin Tinkler, a passionate cyclist and advocate for active travel, is looking for local residents to get involved.
Our objectives
We believe an active travel working group in Chudleigh should have three goals:
- To make walking and cycling within Chudleigh safe and easy for everyone so people choose active travel for the majority of journeys within town.
- To encourage community involvement in plans, designs and campaigns.
- To get Chudleigh connected to the National Cycle Network, to secondary schools and to other local towns and villages, with routes that are safe for all ages and abilities.
Recommendation
We set up an active travel working group.
- Goals 1 and 2 can be addressed through the Sustrans proposals initially by securing funding in stages to fulfil the projects identified.
- Goal 3 will require research to find route options and funding solutions, engagement with stakeholders including the local authority, Highways, Sustrans and others. We need a well evidenced pressure group to make the case for connecting our town. We can work with and learn from the Exeter Cycle Campaign and South Devon Cycle Link locally amongst many others
Sustrans Proposal
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COVID-19 - Active Travel improvements in Chudleigh
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