Council plans upgraded cycle route to town
Starting near Waitrose, rather than taking the most direct route along the canal towpath, the cycle way will run along the wide footpaths beside Peglars Way and Redposts Drive, before joining an existing cycle path from Wootton Bassett Road to Turner Street. After crossing Westcott Place, the route follows Canal Walk, ending at Farnsby Street near the Brunel Centre and Wharf Green bike park. The works to improve the bicycle path include branded signs, paving and bollards, plus LED lighting along the route.
The plans will be on display at Swindon Travel Choices’ cycling roadshow outside Waitrose on Saturday 3rd October, between 11 am and 5 pm.
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Isn’t about time the foot path leading up to the old railway track had lighting
The plan for East Wichel included an upgraded pedestrian/cycle route to Wroughton, but not up the hill to Old Town. So although the path to Wroughton has lights, we think it’s unlikely the council will put lights on the path past Westlecott Farm Cottages.
It peters out at the difficult bit past Waitrose – typical UK cycling “farcility”. Also, the lights at the end of East Wichel Way don’t reliably detect bikes, so you could potentially sit there until the next bus comes along to turn them green.
These issues were raised with Swindon Borough Council in April this year, through Swindon Bicycle Users Group and councillor Jane Milner-Barry, but nothing has happened since. If you know the line to take, you can get the lights at the end of East Wichel Way to work consistently to detect a bicycle, but the ones on the bus way on Foxham Way never work. Another other point made to the council was that the official cycle route from Churn roundabout to East Wichel (cross into the centre of Foxham Way, hope the lights will detect your bicycle, then cycle down… Read more »