How do you get around town if you live in Ilkeston, and what improvements do you think should be made to make walking, cycling and other forms of ‘active travel’ an easier option?
Derbyshire County Council has launched a survey to get people’s views about active travel – which includes walking, cycling or using a scooter, mobility scooter or wheelchair.
The survey can be found at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/ActiveTravelMasterplan and people can also comment on draft ‘Active Travel Masterplans’ which have been drawn-up including one for Ilkeston, to suggest a range of measures which would make active travel safer, more convenient and more appealing to a wider range of people.
These plans, together with the support of views gathered in the survey, will be instrumental when the county council makes bids to the Government for funding to carry out ‘active travel’ improvements in the future.
In addition to the online survey, a drop in session is being held for people to give their views and this will be from 3pm to 7pm at The Arena Church on Rutland Street, Ilkeston (DE7 8DG) on Thursday 23rd May.
Amongst two other locations in the county, Ilkeston has been chosen as a focus of the project as many people live and work within the towns, making short journeys between home and workplace, the proportion of people walking, wheeling or cycling to work is relatively low, as work would complement existing or proposed plans that have local backing and as they offer the opportunity to introduce a range of measures which could be rolled out elsewhere in the county.
Councillor Carolyn Renwick, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said: “We’ve worked with local councils and other organisations to help identify Active Travel opportunities in these towns and put together some proposals which can be found in the draft Active Travel Masterplans.
“Proposals include creating links for walking, wheeling and cycling between Ilkeston’s new railway station and the town centre."
“Now we want to take this forward and I would urge everyone who lives, works or visits any of these three towns to have their say about improvements they would most like to see as this will lend weight to our bids for funding to turn this proposals into reality in the future.
“Developments such as these create healthy travel options and also help in our ambitions to work in partnership to reduce the amount of carbon emissions generated in Derbyshire to net zero by 2050 or sooner.”
The draft Active Travel Masterplans have been funded by Active Travel England Capability and Ambition Fund.