Abbey Fields cycle path will cost £663,000, newly published report claims

The report into the viability of a cycle path through Abbey Fields has finally been made public - and reveals the path would cost £663,000.
The current cycle path off Bridge Street to the east of Abbey FieldsThe current cycle path off Bridge Street to the east of Abbey Fields
The current cycle path off Bridge Street to the east of Abbey Fields

The full study was published on Warwick District Council’s website following a Freedom of Information request, made after the Weekly News said a decision was coming soon about the path’s future in September.

But a decision from the council on the divisive plan will not take place until the new year as funding options for the path have yet to be agreed, according to the portfolio holder for neighbourhood services Cllr Dave Shilton.

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He added: “It will go to executive eventually, but we’re still in talks and nothing has been decided as of yet.

“It’s a big project, and Abbey Fields is very important to a lot of people, so we’ve got to be right one way or the other.”

The report, jointly funded by the district council, Warwickshire County Council and Sustrans, discusses three possible routes the cycle path could take.

It recommends the third option, which would direct cyclists under Bridge Street, along the north side of the Finham Brook, crossing on a bridge near the swimming pool before joining Castle Road.

This route was deemed to be the safest and least intrusive.

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A draft version of the report was seen by county councillor John Whitehouse back in February, and it was thought it would be published in full soon after that for a public debate to be had.

But the report’s publication was then delayed as some of the details needed to be confirmed.

In September, it was decided at a meeting of ‘interested parties’ that the project had progressed to the point where nothing more could be done until the district council either supported it or vetoed it. The report was still not publically available at this time.

But according to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the report should have been published before the council makes its decision.

Download the report in full here