Following on from the completion of Blackpool Bridge earlier this month a team of council staff have been in the valley carrying out a list of small maintenance jobs throughout this week. Here’s the list.
| Sparth Lane | Footpath HOL/78/10 – Cutback overgrown vegetation
Footpath – HOL/78/30 – Clear steps Footpath – HOL/78/40 – Put new footpath post sign |
| Off Coldwell Lane | Footpath HOL/85/60 – Steps – Cutback overgrown vegetation |
| Ramsden Road, Holmfirth | Remove garden waste |
| Lower Milshaw | Footpath HOL/146/10 – Strim/place waymark post |
| Off A635 Penistone Road | Footpath HOL/132/20 – Strim/cutback overgrown hedge |
| Off Dean Brook Road | Footpath HOL/25/10 – Bridge – Grub mud off surface/Steps – Remove leaves |
This work has been taken from footpath inspections carried out over the past 2 years on the local network by this blog. A few weeks ago Councillor Paul Davies contacted me to ask for any suggestions for path works as some resources were becoming available ie a team for a week. Paul also got 6 paths cleared of vegetation during the summer. This positive approach is unprecedented here in the Holme Valley and I hope it continues. It’s very useful to have a councillor who will listen and attempt to get something done. Light at the end of the tunnel?
It’s satisfying to see works being done which will benefit path users and to have resources directed at the network. There is agreement for some larger scale works in the next financial year with up to 4 schemes programmed and in addition the 3 footbridges in Morton Wood on the Kirklees Way are to be replaced (and temporarily repaired in the meantime). Remarkably this week the Biblical lake featured in Ramblers Must Walk On Water Say Council has been earmarked for repairs. The council has of course broken it’s vows before, most notably on Ramsden Road.
This is all very positive and although dealing with Kirklees has at times felt like being taken from your bed in the middle of the night to be waterboarded in a pool on Ramsden Road, left shivering and sobbing in your jim jams and having to beg a lift home from some passing land rover enthusiast who hates ramblers , it does seem worth it occasionally.
Clearly there are structural problems in just where Kirklees puts its rights of way responsibility and how much of a priority that work is given in comparison to the many other obligations and demands on the council. However these issues are not insurmountable.It would be good to see a move away from the dodgy deals which plague the councils approach to enforcement, a more positive attitude from managers and a much a more proactive maintenatnce regime alongside a Definitive Map and Statement fit for purpose. But let’s not get carried away.
Path Watch 