CycleWight's Wish List 2000

Introduction

The Island is very well placed to become one of the country's top cycling destinations, given a commitment by the Council to develop infrastructure over the next few years. This would not only fulfil the aspirations of the recent Local Transport Plan and Agenda 21, but would also allow the Island to benefit from a substantial green tourism market.

* Cycling is a rapidly growing sector of green tourism and a popular leisure activity. The Camel Trail in Cornwall is one of the most visited attractions in the county.

* Local businesses have been shown to gain substantially where high quality cycle routes have been established, for example the Northumbrian C2C route.

* It allows for an expansion of the tourist season, and does not add to the local burden of traffic.

* Government recognises the contribution that walking and cycling make to reduction of traffic growth.

* Improving the health of Island Residents- all the research points to health benefits of regular modest exercise.

* Enabling our children once more to be able to walk to school, where cycling schemes form part of Safe routes to Schools projects.

We have a very good bridleway network already. We believe that it should be complemented by a network of traffic free cycleways, level traffic free attractive paths, ideal for commuters, and visitors, for the short distances between our towns. Most of the network exists already, using parts of the disused railway lines: for the most part they need surfacing and very importantly, signing and promotion.

A detailed look at the existing and potential Cycleway Network

Newport to Cowes

This is a well used commuter/leisure route. A link through Medham from the cycleway to Northwood has long been proposed and is a very popular idea with Northwood residents. At present the cycleway ends on Riverway, a busy road through Newport's industrial estate- this is far from satisfactory- the path could be fairly easily extended along the river into Sea Street.

Brading to St. Helens

Conversion of the disused railway to cycleway would make a much needed alternative to narrow and busy main roads for visitors and residents.

Wroxall to Shanklin

Another very scenic and potentially high quality route on the disused railway line, just needing a proper surface and signing.

Newport to Sandown

Land acquisition difficulties in the middle have brought the development of this route to a halt, however there is much that could be usefully done as an interim measure with either end of the route:

* At the Newport end, the Shide to Blackwater cycleway has been in place for several years and is a well used route into Newport. This could be easily extended to Merstone, using a combination of the disused railway and the Stenbury Trail. This has the potential of attracting substantial commuter use, being a short, level, traffic free route.

* At the Sandown end, fairly substantial sums of money have already been spent on the route starting at Perowne Way, and with help from Sustrans, the national charity that is working with local authorities to create the National Cycle Network, as far as Horringford.. This path could be a valuable green tourism feature in the Yar Valley especially for visitors based at Sandown, requiring attention to the surface at the western end,signing and promotion.

Ryde to Newport

The Wootton to Newport section of this path got off to a good start with the creation by IWC of a very good path between Station Road and Park Road in 1999. Unfortunately the subsequent connection to Newport in 2000 was very substandard, the overall result is that the route is little used- which as the route gives the best chance of increasing regular commuting journeys of any of the paths on the Island. It is potentially a level short and scenic route that could equal or surpass the cycle traffic carried by the Cowes route. We wish to see consideration given to a radical improvement to this route.

The proposed Ryde to Wootton path uses Spencer Road, Ladies Walk through the golf Course, along road and then along the bridleway past Quarr Abbey, along Fishbourne Lane and across Wootton Bridge on the A3054. A public right of Way exists already along all of this route enabling the relatively easy conversion to cycleway.

Newport to Freshwater

The desirability of a cycleway as an alternative to the two main roads to the west of Newport has long been recognised, and a proposed route from Newport to Freshwater forms part of the National Cycle Network. As the disused railway is now in the hands of several private owners, this project , included in the UDP, is understandably a long term one. We would suggest, however, that it would be in the long term interest of tourism on the Island to make a start on negotiations on this route.

In towns

We wish to see general improvements for pedestrians and cyclists including Safe routes to Schools projects, Home Zones, and speed reduction measures. Routes through towns need careful planning to acheive continuity, rather than the isolated measures that we have at present, that serve mainly to exasperate the motorist.

Summary

Some tentative steps have been taken by IWC, but we are a long way from making the best of what we have, and much of the good work that has been completed so far is virtually unused,as it has not been completed and signed. Many of these schemes are relatively easy to complete, most of the tracks being in Council ownership, They represent an important "Green Tourism" opportunity for the Island,which is currently not being maximised. In order to do so, we need a Cycling Officer within the Council who is prepared to push these schemes forward.