Greenway Route Progress
TONY COLLINS,
Green councillor for Central St Leonards
The Hastings Greenway Trust’s Ian Sier has given an upbeat assessment of the chances of the Ore Valley segment of the route going ahead soon. Speaking at a Greenway Conference earlier this month he outlined how it would form a vital part of a much larger vision for the long-awaited Hastings Greenway, a major cycle and pedestrian route transversing the borough.
It would run from the town centre, to Speckled Wood and Ore Village in the northeast, right across Hastings to connect to the Combe Valley Way in the west, with feeder routes running south to north up to the Conquest Hospital and the Ridge.
The idea – first mooted in 2007 – is well now advanced. Under the current plan the Ore Community Land Trust would take over key stretches from the development company SeaChange. Other parts of the route will be completed by a local developer. There are still legal matters to be resolved, but Ian Sier is sanguine.
“Once we have agreement from the landowners – and I am optimistic this will happen soon – then we can start applying for grants,” he told the conference at the West Hill Community Centre. The Ore development will be of critical importance to residents in Broomgrove who can currently only access Ore Station via a long, awkward route through surrounding streets – the Greenway corridor is far more direct.
Hastings Greenway is part of a wider network of walking and cycling routes. Nick Hanna, of Sussex Greenways, outlined to the conference his vision of a time when eco-tourism by bike and family cycling holidays, would become a feature of the region. The Greenways project aims to build links for walkers, cyclists, wheelchair users and horse-riders right across the South East. A major setback was the decision by Hastings Borough Council last December to reject, by one vote, the plan to create a cycle path through Alexandra Park – a central ink to the rest of the scheme.
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