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walk
Press Release
Cambridge to Wicken Fen walking and cycling network - now a step closer
PHOTOCALL:
What: Sustrans Connect2 project manager and its partner the National Trust
sign the agreement which will guide the development of the new walking and
cycling network over the coming years
Where: Wicken Fen Visitor Centre
When: 12.00 noon Wednesday 4th February
It's one year since Sustrans' Connect2 won the TV vote to bring £50million from the Big Lottery Fund to 79 communities across the UK to create networks for everyday journeys for people travelling by foot or bike.
Today [Wednesday 4th February], the multi-million pound scheme to connect Cambridge to Wicken Fen is a step closer as sustainable transport charity Sustrans and its Connect2 partner the National Trust sign the paperwork that will guide the development for the coming years.
This agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding, confirms partners continued commitment to the scheme and pledges £600,000 from Sustrans' Connect2 lottery award to complete the network of traffic-free paths and quiet roads which will connect walkers and cyclists from the city to the countryside and cut to the heart of the Wicken Vision area.
This walking and cycling network will link to villages on the edge of the Vision area whilst the construction of a series of new bridges over the manmade waterways, known as Lodes, will dramatically enhance access throughout the area.
The newly finished Swaffham Bulbeck Lode Bridge is an essential part of the route and already offers opportunities for circular routes linking with Anglesey Abbey. A second bridge - the Reach Lode Bridge - is now being designed with the bridge opening being scheduled for 2010.
Over the next few years further work will be done at Reach and Burwell Lodes and also to improve links with Waterbeach and Anglesey Abbey itself, laying the foundations for thousands of people to walk or cycle to National Trust properties, nearby villages and throughout the Vision area to the benefit of both their health and the environment.
Chris Soans from the National Trust says: "I am delighted that we have now secured the funding for this very important project. This project will provide an essential link for walkers and cyclists alike and will help us try and minimise the impact of car traffic in the area where we have two very popular properties whilst at the same time significantly enhancing access to a vast area of open countryside."
Sustrans' Connect2 project manager, Tim Temple says: "We are delighted to be making this significant step towards completing the scheme linking Cambridge and Wicken Fen. In this era of concerns about the health of individuals and our environment, enabling more journeys to be made by foot and bike can only benefit our community."
This scheme has been made possible through the enormous popular support for Sustrans' Connect2 - as voted for by the public in the UK's largest lottery competition last December. Building on this public enthusiasm the scheme's Steering Group meets regularly in the surrounding villages, and will soon be mounting a series of events around the growing path network, inviting people to use it to the full.
Joan Lonsdale, Chairman of Burwell Parish Council, who sits on the Steering Group, says: "The scheme is making for easier access to some fascinating areas of countryside for our communities to enjoy and I am very pleased to be involved in the project".
The anticipated cost of the Cambridge to Wicken Fen scheme is in excess of £2.0million, with £600,000 coming from the Big Lottery Fund as part of Sustrans Connect2, and the remaining funding coming from other sources including the Housing Growth Fund.
The lottery award will join locally sourced match-funding to transform local travel in 79 communities throughout the UK - changing the lives of six million people who live within a mile of a scheme. Over the next five years, nearly £30 million a year will be invested in creating these local walking and cycling networks from Devon to Perthshire.
Further information about Sustrans, including other news releases and detailed online route mapping, is available through our website: www.sustrans.org.uk
< Ends >
For further information please contact:
Hannah Sheppard, Press Officer on 0117 9150 123 or email hannah.sheppard@sustrans.org.uk
Sustrans Press Office:
Telephone: 0117 9277 555; Fax: 0117 930 4149; E-mail: press@sustrans.org.uk
Press Office out of office hours (mobile: 07802 986728)
Photo Librarian - Jonathan Bewley (0117 915 0120)
Notes to Editors
 | Sustrans is the UK's leading sustainable transport charity. Its vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. It is achieving this through innovative but practical solutions to the UK's transport challenges. |
| Sustrans' flagship project, the National Cycle Network, is now around 12,000 miles and runs within one mile of 55 per cent of the UK population. During 2007 over 354 million trips were made on the Network. There are around 2,500 rangers helping to look after the National Cycle Network. |
| Sustrans' Connect2 is a UK-wide project that will transform local travel in 79 communities by creating new bridges and crossings to overcome busy roads, rivers and railways, and linking these to networks of walking and cycling routes. As a result millions of people will be able to walk and cycle more for everyday journeys. |
| Sustrans' Connect2 won £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund's Living Landmarks: The People's Millions as a result of a public vote televised on ITV1 in December 2007. |
| Connect2 is a £142 million scheme - £50 million from the largest ever single lottery grant - and the remaining millions in match funding for individual projects. |
| The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006. |
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888 Out of hours: 07867 500 572
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