Travel survey launched for those living in Glossop, Belper and Ilkeston

How do you get around town if you live in Belper, Glossop or Ilkeston? And what improvements do you think should be made to make walking, cycling and other forms of ‘active travel’ an easier option?

Derbyshire County Council has launched a survey to get people’s views about active travel – which includes walking, cycling or using a scooter, mobility scooter or wheelchair.

The survey can be found at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/ActiveTravelMasterplan and people can also comment on draft ‘Active Travel Masterplans’ which have been drawn up for each of the three towns to suggest a range of measures which would make active travel safer, more convenient and more appealing to a wider range of people.

These plans, together with the support of views gathered in the survey, will be instrumental when the county council makes bids to the government for funding to carry out ‘active travel’ improvements in the future. 

In addition to the online survey there are some drop-in sessions being held for people to give their views. These are at the following locations from 3pm to 7pm. 

•    Monday 13 May: The Bureau, Bank House, 22 Henry Street, Glossop SK13 8BW
•    Monday 20th May: Strutts Centre, Derby Road, Belper DE56 1UU 
•    Thursday 23 May: Ilkeston Arena Church, 1 Rutland Street, Ilkeston DE7 8DG

Belper, Glossop and Ilkeston have been chosen as the focus of the project for the following reasons:

•    Many people live and work within the towns, making short journeys between home and workplace
•    The proportion of people walking, wheeling or cycling to work is relatively low
•    Work would complement existing or proposed plans that have local backing
•    They offer the opportunity to introduce a range of measures which could be rolled out elsewhere in the county. 

Councillor Carolyn Renwick, Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment, said: “We’ve worked with local councils and other organisations to help identify Active Travel opportunities in these towns and put together some proposals which can be found in the draft Active Travel Masterplans. 

“Proposals include creating links for walking, wheeling and cycling between Ilkeston’s new railway station and the town centre, making Belper’s World Heritage Site more accessible and tackling air quality issues in Glossop.

“Now we want to take this forward and I would urge everyone who lives, works or visits any of these three towns to have their say about improvements they would most like to see as this will lend weight to our bids for funding to turn these proposals into reality in the future.

“Developments such as these create healthy travel options and also help in our ambitions to work in partnership to reduce the amount of carbon emissions generated in Derbyshire to net zero by 2050 or sooner.”