Meeting at Rowsley Village Hall

Last Wednesday I went to the meeting at Rowsley mentioned by Stuart in his last post. Judging by the attitudes of some of the local residents present, there are likely to be a number of objections registered against this planning application. I would like to remind folk what this is all about. Six tunnels on the Monsal Trail, previously closed since the Beeching era, were re-opened last year, making a 9-mile long walking, cycling and wheelchair-friendly path from Bakewell to Wye Dale car park (on the A6 about 4 miles east of Buxton). This trail has become enormously popular and it offers an opportunity to appreciate views of the Peak District hitherto inaccessible to most cyclists. The charity Peak Cycle Links have plans to extend this relatively short stretch into a 60-mile circular trail between Buxton and Cromford. In particular, it would provide usable routes between the towns of Cromford, Matlock, Rowsley, Bakewell and Buxton, obviating the need to ride on the murderous A6. The consultation period has been extended by Peak Park by a couple of weeks because a consequence of the Xmas break was that few people (and you can take this to mean mainly objectors) had registered their opinions. The Rowsley meeting was to discuss the extension of the present trail from Coombs Rd, Bakewell, through the Haddon Estate and so on to Rowsley. Opposition was mainly from residents of Church Lane, Rowsley who expressed concerns about parking and ‘speeding’ cyclists. However, there is no doubt in my mind that the hostility at the meeting went well beyond that and was aimed at cyclists generally. It is therefore imperative that you lodge your support with Peak Park if you want to see this project go ahead. Here is the link:   http://pam.peakdistrict.gov.uk/?r=NP%2FDDD%2F1111%2F1125