Wokingham

Bulmershe students are on their bikes now Wokingham District Council has teamed up with sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, to improve the cycle path network surrounding the school.

A brand new cycle path has been built by Wokingham council, starting at the top of the B3350, Pitts Lane, by the Crossing and continuing on the east side of Pitts Lane to connect with the Town Lane cycle path. The town lane path cycleway ends just before the road junction with Grays Crescent. The whole cycle track is now approximately 650m long, and the Pitts Lane footway has been widened from two metres to three-and-a-half metres. The Town Lane path has also been resurfaced with improved drainage down the centre.

The work is part of the Sustrans/Cycling England Links to Schools Programme, a nation-wide scheme, in partnership with local authorities, to connect schools, colleges and communities to the 10,000 miles of the National Cycle Network. A grant of £27,904.65 covered half the cost of the new scheme, which was completed earlier this year at a total cost of £55,809.31. The new cycleway gives many students of the Bulmershe School, in Chequers Way, Earley a safe and easy route to school.

Sustrans Regional Manager in the South East, Simon Pratt, and David Wallis, the Sustrans Area Manager, were invited to visit the new cycle path on September 15 to see how successful it is proving, along with Wokingham District Council chairman Cllr Angus Ross, the Earley Town Mayor Cllr David Chopping and Deputy Head of Bulmershe School Merv Boniface.

Mr Boniface said: “We are very keen for students to have the safest and healthiest possible choices for getting to school. Cycling is good exercise, good for the environment and gives young people more independence. We are extremely glad to see the Council and Sustrans providing more paths so that cycling to school is made safer for students.”

Simon Pratt of Sustrans was once a student at the Bulmershe School. He said: I well remember cycling to the school from my home in Twyford and it is great to see so many of the current students cycling to school. We expect the new facilities to enable many more students to walk or cycle to school, thereby replacing some car journeys, with all the related benefits for students' health and the environment."

Wokingham Cllr Angus Ross said “This cycle path follows a much-used route and will be beneficial to many cyclists in a wide area, especially students going to and from Bulmershe School. I am excited to see increased cycle provision in our district, especially where it benefits students at our schools and helps them become more independent. I would like to thank Sustrans for the grant they have provided which has made this scheme possible.”

Wokingham District Council