Residents welcome idea of cycleway from Sonning Common to Emmer Green

RESIDENTS of Sonning Common and Emmer Green have welcomed a proposed cycleway between the two places.

A total of 1,212 people responded to an online questionnaire devised by Sonning Common Parish Council’s cycleway working party.

Fifty four per cent of respondents were from Emmer Green and 46 per cent from Sonning Common.

Ninety-eight per cent of all respondents supported the proposal, which was first suggested last year when the working party became part of the council.

The cycle path would be adjacent to the B481 and could be used by cyclists, pedestrians and even people with mobility scooters. A 30-page report on the proposal has been submitted to Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority.

Presenting the results of the survey to a meeting of Sonning Common Parish Council, Councillor Neville Varnham said that 90 per cent of respondents said that they regularly travelled between the two settlements.

Almost half (48 per cent) said they would be more likely to cycle the route if a safe cycleway was in place and more than half said the busy B481 was currently not safe for cyclists.

The working party found strong evidence to support the idea that the cycleway would increase the potential for Greener Travel between the villages. Fifty seven per cent said they would use the cycleway regularly and another 33 per cent said they would use it at least once a month.

Cllr Varnham said: “This confirms the view that there’s a real desire to see a cycleway linking Sonning Common and Emmer Green.”

He said the working party would need to:

• Secure the co-operation of landowners affected by the proposed route.

• Identify an appropriate legal entity that would own the cycleway, which could be the parish council.

• Decide whether to partner with Sustrans, which runs the National Cycle Network, or
Greenways and Cycleroutes.

Cllr Varnham said the principle of a link between the two communities was included in Oxfordshire County Council’s draft strategic network plan but this did not make it a priority.

He said: “The tools that they use to determine whether cycleways will be used intensively tend to favour urban settings, so we’re on the list but are they ready to give us the money tomorrow? Unfortunately not.”

Cllr Varnham said the cycleway would cost about £375,000 to build.

He said: “We’ve got no significant civil engineering to do, we’ve got no bridges to build, and there’s no significant flood risk. It’s all reasonably level and earthworks as opposed to hard construction.”

Councillor Jonny Bidgood, who leads the cycleway group, appealed to any residents with fundraising experience to join the working party, adding: “Getting these funds is tricky.”

Councillor Vicky Boorman said: “I want to say well done for getting that many responses because that’s a really important thing to show Oxfordshire County Council.

“The feedback you’ve had is why they really need to take it
seriously.”

Paul Waterman, who lives in Sonning Common, said: “There’s a tendency to talk mainly about cyclists but we must remember that there’s great potential for people to walk this peaceful route away from the main road.

“As a frequent visitor to the Netherlands, where I leisure cycle, I have encountered people with mobility scooters travelling five or more miles from home.

“We must remember to open up for all branches of society who might prefer to get out of their cars.”

Councillor Sara McLellan said she was concerned about development on land around the cycleway, which would urbanise the area and narrow the gap between the village and Emmer Green.