Lady Cannings Update May 2015
More than a few weeks radio silence on Lady Cannings again, for which I can only apologise. A couple of bumps in the road towards getting the trails built, plus most people involved also working towards putting Steel City DH has meant another small delay.
Current status is that the trail is planned and marked on the ground, and Sheffield City Council (SCC) planning permission has been granted. The machines were due to go on site in mid-April, but unfortunately right at the last the Peak District National Park Authority added their own planning consultation on top. It’s pretty frustrating given that they’ve known about this for a long while, but by the same token no one has built a purpose built MTB trail in the Park before so we are also breaking new ground both physically and metaphorically. This additional process resulted in there needing to be some more extensive archaeological assessments done (on top of what Sheffield City Council had already commissioned), but the mighty Jon Dallow of SCC Woodlands has got the work sorted and had a positive meeting with the Peak Park. All of us at Ride Sheffield can’t stress enough what a legend Jon has been in steering this project through all the approvals processes.
The upshot is that we do actually have a firm dates for works commencing, with Biketrack heading into the woods on 18th May for about 4 weeks. We’re aiming to open in early July depending on the weather. As any of you who have followed the Steel City track upgrade and Bolehills renovations will know, surfacing needs time to bed in and harden, particularly if wet, so let’s see what the weather brings us in June. Other good news is that Jordan Gould of Biketrack has said that he’s especially positive having seen how well the work at Greno went, given that the on site materials to be used are so similar, so that’s great.
So once again, we beg your patience just a short while longer. Massive thanks to Jon Dallow, Jordan Gould and to our ever generous sponsor Go Outdoors for all being so helpful and understanding in getting through to the build.
One last thing; we’re going to hold a big thank you/opening party for everyone who’s funded the trail in early July. Keep an eye out for a firm date announcement as soon as we have a good idea what’s happening with the build.
