Elections

I was a keen cyclist but not a fit as I used to be. The Lanchester Valley Walk and Cycle Route 14 passes through Esh and Witton Gilbert. This route following the former railway line links many others both at Broompark Picnic Area and Lydgetts Junction in Consett. At Wallnook the cycle route follows Wallnook Lane which leads on to Front Street and the main road to the A691. There is no road crossing here and vehicles approaching from the A691 are at the national speed limit and vehicles heading to the A691 are traveling over the 30MPH limit before reaching the National Speed Limit.. A signalised crossing point was proposed here as part of the outline planning for up to 400 homes but would not have been operational until the 49th was occupied. The reserved matters for 342 homes was refused earlier in 2021. Though the National Speed Limit was to be reduced to 40MPH, the development if given permission would not have completed until 2034. Despite this the route is well used and links to the rest of the cycle network. Though the development of the houses may come back at a later date as part of the County Durham Plan there's no reason why a crossing can't be provided here. However a pegasus crossing would be more appropriate as horse riders also use the route. This was not considered as a suitable location however during the planning process and many of the objections to the development mentioned a Pegasus Crossing.

Many of the schools in the area attract pupils from other villages and other areas. Esh has both a Church of England and Catholic Primary School and getting too and from school by cycling would be impractical. Some parents do walk between Langley Park and Esh, but most drive. Langley Park and Witton Gilbert do have a lot of through traffic and often queuing traffic leading to rat running down back streets. Though I would agree that cycling has benefits, I can understand the hesitation of parents allowing their children to reach school this way. Speeding in all villages is a concern and all candidates have expressed this in their election flyers. In Langley Park, new estates built in the last 20 years would have enabled walking and cycling without the need to travel along Low Moor Road but land was allowed to be purchased to expand gardens which resulted in these links between estates closed. Hospital Road though can still be accessed from Maplewood Court there is now no link to Herrington Close which also links to Middridge Road. Schools also have breakfast clubs and after school activities which are there for parents who need to drop off their children early to get to work or pick up later. This means parents will drive to school to and from work.

Durham County Council have already put measure in place such as on Rotary Way and along Pity Me and Framwellgate Front Street. I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen these in use by cyclists. There is already a number of shared foot / cycle routes though often cyclists don't use these and instead continue to the use the road. Roads had become quieter with most who could working from home. The County Durham Plan though adopted is missing two vital relief roads that would have enabled Durham County Council to divert the A690 and A691 out of the city centre and enabling better management of the main roads. This could have been a combination of bus and cycle lanes. A additional Park and Ride at Stonebridge would have been close to Broom Park Picnic Area and where three cycling and walking routes converge. Business and for that matter customers using these in the city centre have no safe and secure place for their bikes. Theft and often vandalism puts people off using this method of transport. What is also to be considered is that The Passport Office, National Savings and soon to be finished new County Hall do have secure cycling but maybe only used by a small number of people who live close by.

For a time, Wallnook Bridge was completely closed. Kaysburn Roundabout can be difficult to negotiate. From here Witton Gilbert Roundabout, then the junction which continues to be a rat run is unsafe if drivers decide last minute to turn right sometimes without indicating they are going to do so. The A691 can be an up hill struggle and then need to get over Trouts Lane. Sniperley Park and Ride Is too small and I believe to be expanded in the future. Perhaps the solution here would be increased parking for cycles and as an incentive these users could perhaps benefit from a reduction of the fare. The shared foot / cycle path is not that wide and again often cyclists prefer to use the road. There is no difference between using the A691 compared to the Lanchester Valley Walk to reach Durham for example and both exactly 4.7 miles and only 1 minute slower using the mainly traffic free route.

There are already cycle routes conecting Framwellgate Moor to Durham City, two mainly off road and one as a shared footway / cycle path. As above the expansion of the Park and Ride site at Sniperley would be better suitable if linked to this development either with more cycle parking or encouraging people living there who may work in the city centre to walk and use the bus service. However many of the proposed site for housing including Sniperley Park had no guarantee that these homes would be lived in by people working in the city centre. Aykley Heads for example has a multistorey car park included in the long term plan. Electric buses used instead of diesel or hybrid types would make this environmentally friendly. Currently the buses serving this site also serve the Park and Ride at Belmont. Incidents on the A1(M) leading to the closure result in traffic diverted through the city centre and delays to all bus services. It would be far better to have the Park and Ride buses go direct from these sites and return back to the same site. Though this may require additional buses added to the fleet, this also creates an opportunity for employment of more drivers. Sniperley Park however can be easily connected to the already established cycling and walking routes through Framwellgate Moor, Aykley Heads and in to the city centre. This mostly follows former wagon ways crossing Framwellgate Moor Front Street and down to Old Pit Lane. Though this route would be 2.7 miles and take around 14 minutes to cycle, the more direct routes using the main roads are between 2.2 and 2.3 miles and taking between 11 and 12 minutes.