After months of campaigning by pedestrians, and lobbying by Ruddington Parish Council (RPC), Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) has finally set a date to give a muddy Ruddington footpath a new, all-weather surface.
Residents who complained about “Footpath Number 5” being unusable during periods of wet weather, due to puddles and mud, have just received letters from Via East Midlands announcing that “surface improvements” will be taking place next month.
The stretch of footway in question links 50 Steps Bridge over the railway line to Vicarage Park. Not only is it well used by walkers to get to Rushcliffe Country Park, but also now by hundreds of residents from the new Pasture Lane estates as their shortest access route to our village centre. This increased use has turned stretches into a quagmire during the winter months. The footpath upgrade work is, in fact, very long overdue – since part of the Section 106 agreement for Bellway Homes dated 21st January 2014 was that the developer must pay the County Council £10,000 towards the cost of resurfacing “…prior to the occupation of any dwelling” as an Integrated Transport Contribution!
Writing to RPC back in March this year, resident Peter Wakelin urged that something be done: “I walk through that mud every day, to access the Country Park, and wear Wellingtons to do so” he explained. “However, that route is also used by numerous other residents of Ruddington who don’t necessarily have similar footwear. Indeed, the other day I helped a young woman literally drag a pushchair with a child in it through the mud, as it was impossible to push it. Her footwear and the pushchair wheels were absolutely caked in mud!”
Mrs Rae (who took the photographs) wrote: “I’m a returning resident to Ruddington, and I chose to live back in Ruddington because of its excellent village amenities and schools. But now I’m struggling getting into the village using this path, via the footbridge because of unsuitable conditions. I choose not to drive, as a car is not needed in our village, but this footpath is making my walk to the village very dangerous by the amount of mud. This has caused me to slip on several occasions now.”
A response from RPC advised that a report would be going to the Amenities Committee meeting just before Easter 2018 proposing that the path to 50 steps and the large triangle of mud near the exit from Vicarage Lane Playing Fields should be tarmacked – with a suggestion to create a new path from there joining the existing footpath on Vicarage Park to the Village Centre.
Seven months on, it seems funds are not yet available for the latter but at least the existing footpath is now due to be sorted by NCC before the winter sets in. The letter from Via East Midlands states:
“The stretch of ‘fenced in’ footpath between 50 Steps Bridge and Vicarage park will be prepared to receive a sealed tarmac finish. A new access barrier to restrict cycles will replace the one currently at 50 Steps Bridge and an additional fanned section of tarmac will be constructed at the Vicarage Park end of the path to replace the soft ground that often causes muddy conditions during the winter months. It is hoped that the tarmac resurfacing can be continued along the line of the footpath in Vicarage Park towards the village centre next year should funding permit.”
There is now a closure notice (below) advising pedestrians that they will not be able to use the footpath for around five days from Monday November 12th to allow the work to take place.
