BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The National Cycle Network was launched in 1995 following a grant of £43.5m from the Millennium Commission.
Last year the Network carried over 201 million walking and cycling trips.
The ’10 000 miles Awards’ will be presented by astronomer and broadcaster, Heather Couper, at a dinner at Churchill College, Cambridge on Sunday.
John Grimshaw, Sustrans’ CEO said: "The choices and decisions have been difficult. There were dozens of contenders in many of the categories, and so the award winners, outstanding as they are, are representative of a much wider effort.
"Looking to the next ten years, our job at Sustrans is to change the way people move. As the impact of climate change is felt more widely, and petrol prices continue to rise, we will all be travelling far less and over much shorter distances. Walking and cycling will become an everyday part of life.
"The National Cycle Network is a catalyst for change. We would like to double the amount of Network, and bring it within a mile of most of the population in the UK, with usage more than trebling. We want to see government, local and national, take cycling and walking seriously. For the Network to continue succeeding it needs to be integral to all transport planning and funding."
On 12th September, many of the award winners will attend a transport, health and climate change conference in Cambridge called ‘Driven to extinction?’. Organised by Sustrans, and chaired by Channel 4 newscaster Jon Snow, the conference will look at how transport policy can "change the world," said Sustrans.
AWARDS
Routing
Urban area
Winners: Belfast City Council, Newtownabbey Borough Council, Lisburn City Council, Road Service of
Northern Ireland, Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Laganside Development Corporation
Route: Belfast: Jordanstown to Lisburn – centred on a wholesale renewal of the Lagan river frontage, extensive reclamation along the coast of Belfast Lough, and a beautiful reconstruction of the Lagan towpath to Lisburn.
Town and surrounding areas
Winners: Didcot Town Council, Oxfordshire County Council, South Oxfordshire District Council
Routes in all directions linking Didcot to nearly all its surrounding settlements, often by excellent traffic-free paths.
Links to Schools
Winners: Essex County Council and Writtle College
Route: Writtle College made the whole route possible by allowing construction of key sections on college grounds creating local links as well as a direct route to Chelmsford town centre.
Developers infrastructure
Winners: Cork Toft Partnership, Redrow Homes and Barratt Homes
Route: Buckshaw village, between Leyland and Chorley, is the largest brownfield development in the North West on a former munitions works, and took into account the needs of cyclists and walkers right at the start of the programme.
Inspired countryside routes
Winner: Devon County Council
The Council has completed a network of routes throughout the country, including the Tarka Trails and the memorable Granite Way around the western edge of Dartmoor from Okehampton to Lydford.
Construction and Design
Winner: Kingston upon Hull City Council, Conwy Borough Council and Suffolk County Council
Kingston upon Hull has a reputation for slow speeds and continuous cycling routes, a great example being the route to Hessle. Conwy have been an inspiration in forging National Route 5 along its whole coastline. Suffolk County Council is a shining exception to the failure of most local authorities to provide truly flush kerbs at the junction of road, and path – a small, but frustrating detail, of cyclists journeys.
Bridges and underpasses
Winner: Lancaster City Council
The Millennium Bridge at Lancaster shines because it unites Lancaster and Morecambe, long divided by congestion and heavy traffic on the Greyhound Bridge and because of its elegant bifurcation to reach two levels and two destinations on the south side of the river.
Trunk road details
Winner: The Scottish Executive
The Drumochter Pass was our greatest single challenge requiring a new route nearly 20 miles long to avoid the A9 from Dalnacardoch Lodge to Dalwhinnie. The endeavour, which includes 52 bridges, is all the more remarkable because of the relative remoteness of the area, and the distance between settlements.
Greenways
Winner: Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
The Spen Valley Greenway through Heckmondwike, Liversedge and Cleckheaton has been an extraordinary success, with numerous links, excellent landscaping and an exciting public arts programme making it immensely popular and the catalyst for work elsewhere in the area.
Public Spaces
Winner: Carmarthenshire County Council
The Llanelli Millennium Coastal Park has been an outstanding achievement of the Millennium years reclaiming 16 miles of industrialised coast from the Lougher Bridge to Kidwelly.
Public art and sculpture
Winners: South Oxfordshire District Council, Ercol and Oxford and Cherwell Valley College
The Phoenix Trail is an excellent example of collaboration with the local community, college, and businesses to realise a whole series of works that give real character to a new route.
Promotion
Mapping
Winner: Transport for London
19 maps covering the whole of London and delivered free to over two million homes has been central to a resurgence in cycling in the capital.
Magazine
Winner: Lancashire County Council
Lancashire Cycling News is an exceptionally well-produced informative and inspirational publication distributed widely in the county.
Signing
Winner: Dumfries and Galloway Council
National Route 7 in the south west of Scotland holds the crown for its comprehensive signing.
Maintenance
Winners: Seabank Power Station, Bristol City Council, David Souch and Copeland Borough Council
Seabank Power Station maintains a haven of green in Avonmouths industrial area. Bristol City Council maintain the railway path to Bath to a high standard. On the same route, David Souch has planted an inspiring garden of flowers at the Easton exit. Copelands maintenance of the open spaces as the C2C leaves Whitehaven Dockside create a brilliant start to the route
People
Supportive landowners
Joint Winners: British Waterways, BRB Residuary, Forestry Commission, Imerys, Lord Joicey
Canal towpaths provide invaluable sections of the Network, opening the canal network to a wide public.
Disused railways are the backbone of many important sections of route, providing beautifully landscaped routes for millions to enjoy. Forestry Commission provided many crucial links as well as whole networks of local cycling routes. Imerys donation of China Clay lands between St Austell, Wheal Martyn Mining Museum, the Eden Project and Bugle has made a fascinating part of Cornwall accessible to all. Lord Joicey has brought large numbers of visitors into the North Northumberland countryside to explore and enjoy the rich built and natural heritage that forms part of his estate.
Proactive local authority
Joint Winners: Luton Borough Council, Leicestershire County Council and Gateshead Council
Luton for completing the whole of National Route 64 and a number of Links to Schools from end to end of their area. Leicestershire for consistently delivering the Network swiftly and imaginatively, across disciplines and departments, and Gateshead for being increasingly proactive, creating high quality routes with the internationally renowned blinking eye Millennium Bridge, the centre.
Most supportive local authority
Winner: Pembrokeshire County Council
Having embraced the National Cycle Network, Pembrokeshire have created a number of superb routes, many constructed using trainees from the New Deal scheme, and all in a relatively short space of time.
People
Officers and councillors
Winners: Shona Johnstone (Portfolio holder of Transport), Brian Smith (Director of Environment & Transport) both of Cambridgeshire County Council and John Holmes (Director of Regeneration and Tourism), One North East
Cambridgeshire County Council has developed and delivered many routes, and host the 10,000th mile of the Network on National Route 11 between Great Shelford and Cambridge. John Holmes (Director of Regeneration and Tourism). The Regional Development Agency (One North East) has helped deliver many miles of the National Cycle Network, in recent years helping to fund several key sections of traffic-free path to complete routes such as the Pennine and Hadrians Cycleway.
Volunteer rangers
Winners: Doug Ridgeway from Newcastle and David Cuffwright from Cornwall
Two outstanding representatives of an invaluable group of people – Sustrans eyes and ears on the Network, offering real support to councils and public alike.
Sustrans staff
Winner: Dave Jackson, Sustrans Construction Site Manager, York and Nigel Brigham, Sustrans Regional Manager in the East
Dave has built more and more outstanding Greenways each year since he started on the York and Selby Railway Path in 1984. Nigel represents all our national and regional staff and has had particular responsibility for all our routes to Cambridge.
