Frustration and disappointment has been expressed after a popular walking and cycling route in Biddulph was seemingly excluded from plans to improve active travel around the county to the tune of over £1.8 million.

A briefing given to Staffordshire County councillors last week informed councillors that the authority had received £1.83 million from the Government's Active Travel Fund to help deliver the county council's Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.

Improvements are being proposed in Cannock, Stafford, Burton-upon-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and these proposals will be put to a three week public consultation starting on Friday (12th February).

However, Biddulph's town and district Cllr Jill Salt has expressed her disappointment that there had been no mention of any improvements to the town's Route 55 walking and cycling path in the plans.

The first part of Route 55 is the Biddulph Valley Way, which runs along a disused railway line between Biddulph and Congleton.

Cllr Salt said: "I am frustrated and disappointed to learn that the local walking and infrastructure plan of Staffordshire County Council does not include a single mention of Biddulph and Cycle Route 55.

"Route 55 is a commuting route used frequently by those working in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent."

She said that she had noticed the need for improvements on the route for herself while commuting to work.

She added: "There are dozens of regular faces that I see on my commute because I myself use this route during the late spring, summer and early autumn to commute to the City of Stoke 6th Form College and back. It's an approximate 20 mile round trip that I complete three times a week when daylight allows.

Cllr Salt noted that parts of the route were "in a shocking state of repair", adding: "I have to say that the section through Biddulph, particularly from Brown Lees to Brindley Ford is in a shocking state of repair when comparing that to the Stoke or Cheshire side.

"I meet a colleague at Wharf Road who lives in Congleton and we often cycle in together. We have both fallen off at the bottom on the bank down from the Brown Lees business park because the surface there is awful, the hardcore stone too large for anything other than a mountain bike tyre, that causes devastating skids upon descent from the hill preceding it."

A county council spokesperson explained that once the consultation was launched, residents would be asked to go online and view the plans, and leave any comments they may have about them.

They added: "We are dropping leaflets to around 4,000 homes and businesses in total and using our social media channels to highlight the need for improvement and information regarding the proposals.

"Due to Covid-19 we are unable to offer any in-person public information events, however, alongside our online questionnaire and drawing plans, we have commissioned bespoke videos for each location, identifying the improvement measures with photographic and drone footage, along with a narrator, in order to try to 'reach' our audience and increase the understanding within the communities."

In November 2020, the Government announced a new £175 million Active Travel Fund to be allocated to councils around the country.

The money will be spent on schemes including:

- 'School Streets', where streets around schools are closed to motorists at school times

- Low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), where residential side streets are closed to through traffic to stop rat-running

- Segregated cycle lanes

- Pedestrian improvements

However, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has set tough new conditions on councils receiving funding, requiring them to ensure schemes are properly consulted on.

After the fund was announced, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We want to do everything we can to make it easy for people to include some activity in their daily routines – whether that's cycling to work or walking safely to school.

"We can see the public's strong appetite for greener and more active travel, and this funding will help ensure the right infrastructure is in place to build truly active neighbourhoods."

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "It has been great to see so many people build cycling and walking into their daily travel habits. To support them, we know it's vital to have the right infrastructure in place so everyone – cyclists, pedestrians and motorists – can use our roads.

"Whether you're walking, cycling, driving or using public transport, people must have the space they need to get around safely."

Biddulph Nub News has contacted Staffordshire County Council for comment.