New route removes school 'dangers'
Children walking to school in one of the Lake District’s most northerly villages are to benefit from a new footpath when it is opened later this month. The path will take the schoolchildren away from a busy road and other potential dangers on “short-cuts” currently being used.
The project in Penruddock village – between Penrith and Keswick – is a joint scheme between the Lake District National Park Authority, Cumbria County Council, Hutton Parish Council, and local landowners and will be officially launched on 28 June.
The new footpath, from Station Road housing estate to Penruddock village centre, has been created at a cost of £11,600 with roughly half the funding coming from the Cumbria Waste Management Environment Trust and Rheged.
In future it is expected that local children will no longer have to walk along the B5288 –which has a 60 mph speed limit and blind bends – and neither will they have to walk beside a bottle gas depot or down a muddy pathway through scrubby woodland.
The national park’s access and recreation developer, David Robinson, said the LDNPA was pleased the new route had been supported by two local landowners who appreciated the potential benefits from developing the footpath.
“The path will provide another link in the public footpath network and will benefit all the local community. It was the number one footpath project in their Parish Plan, we are grateful for the landowners letting us use their land, because without that support this project would probably not have happened. We have been only too happy to help build the path on the ground,” he explained.
Councillor Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for countryside access, added: “This is a dedicated public footpath and it will be available for public access at all times. I’m sure it is going to be well-used by local people, particularly children walking to school who will now be able to walk away from a busy road.”
