Council Reports Myland Access Group Three months ago I wrote about Active Travel England, the new Executive Agency which supports the Government’s ambitious strategy for walking and cycling, as set out in Gear Change 2020. In July 2021, the Department of Transport published Gear Change: One Year On, which provided a look back at the achievements of the previous year and re-affirmed all the design principles initially set out in Gear Change. It also reports that government had supplied £220 million to local authorities, (including over £9 million to Essex). We recently had the opportunity to ask Cllr Lee Scott, Cabinet Member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport on Essex County Council, what plans Essex County Highways had for the existing cycle infrastructure in Colchester. We didn’t receive an answer – so, in addition we will be enquiring about the North/South and the East/West dedicated cycleways in Colchester. Nothing much appears to have happened with them. We did however get a reply from Essex County Highways about the five stretches of three public footpaths that had been deleted from the Definitive Map. Highways said that although they had been deleted, their status remains as a public footpath! We are having difficulty understanding how these deleted sections which are no longer shown on any map, will be known about by anyone! They go on to say that Myland Community Council as a strategic consultee would have had the opportunity to comment on them at the time these changes happened. We did. But did the Highway Authority (ECC) which designed the roads and footways? Further questions in a bid for some clarity and openness are currently being prepared! 8
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