Safe Cycling Route in Doubt

After more than two decades of campaigning, many local residents were delighted to hear that funding for a safe walking and cycling route between Thame and Haddenham had been agreed.

So it is very depressing to hear that this decision is now being re-examined.

Cynthia Floud, Chair of the Haddenham Safer Walking & Cycling Group, recently attended a Zoom meeting with local Concillors from Thame, South Oxford District Council and Oxfordshire where she learnt that the Oxfordshire Growth Board had decided that the Haddenham-Thame Greenway did not meet Government criteria. These require that any project funded by the Growth Fund assists in the viability of new housing development.

BUT the decision has not been formally announced and therefore is not final.

Bucks Councillors and some Oxfordshire and South Oxford District Councillors are doing all they can to stop the decision being finalised.

The Buckinghashire Council Cabinet has contacted the Oxfordshire Growth Board expressing support for the Haddenham -Thame Greenway and asking them to reconsider.

The meeting decided not to rock the boat by publicising the problem, as the local support for the project had been proved frequently and most recently by the online consultation in December 2019, so did not need further emphasis which might indeed hamper the efforts of the Councillors and officers in both County Councils.

Says Cynthia Floud: "we are still hopeful that the funding by the Oxfordshire Growth Board may be restored. If it isn't, then preparations for the Greenway will still carry on, but other sources of funding will be required."

For more on the Buckinghamshire Greenway see here

If you would like to join others in expressIng your concerns about this situation, there's a petition here.

Hear Cynthia Floud's interview on Red Kite Radio here