The presence of water voles by a towpath on the Oxford Canal has dealt an apparently terminal blow to a £200,000 plan to improve the surface of a towpath on the Oxford Canal.
Sustrans had announced plans to upgrade the surface of the towpath in North Oxofrd earlier this year, but now says that the discovery of rare water voles in the verge alongside the canal will make it impossible for the shared use path to adhere to the minimum width of 2 metres, falling 20cm short.
Many sections of the towpath are in a state of disrepair, and a wall on the opposite bank means it is impossible for the path to be relocated therem reports the Oxford Mail.
The newspaper says that Susanna Pressel, councillor for Jericho and Osney, has written to Sustrans to ask them to review the decision.
“I’m intensely disappointed,” she explained. “It looks like Sustrans is not going to budge. Even though many resurfaced towpaths are only 1.5m wide at most and work perfectly fine.
"Along some sections of the path, such as next to Aristotle Lane Recreation Ground, it is extremely unpleasant to cycle and walk on.
“So either we have a really dire situation or we have something slightly less than ideal,” added the Labour councillor.
Another Oxford City Council member, Liberal Democrat Jim Campbell, added: “It seems to me very unfortunate if, for the sake of eight inches, we are going to lose sufficient funding for a very important project.
“We are contacting as many people in high places as we can to see what can be done.”
Sustrans spokesman Matt Hemsley said that while the charity was keen to explore ways in which the issue could be resolved, currently there appears to be no way of finding a solution.
“The issue is that this path is not wide enough for our guidelines," he commented.
“We ask for a minimum of two metres and recommend three, because we want it to be safe for everyone. In this case it would be difficult to add on the extra 20cm because of the wildlife issues with water voles identified in the area.
“This issue probably isn’t going to be resolvable,” he added.
£2400 up from £2000 is a 20% price increase on the previous version. That's not a small thing, that's insane.
You're confusing whether there should be a controversy (or whether you think there should be one) with whether there is one.
Because "you can't carry a sofa on a bike!" (apologies - that's two bikes, so here's a bonus bed and washing machine).
The BikeSnob has him covered (along with being pals with Lance...) so you don't have to.
This professional driver who carries members of the public should have their PSV license removed for good.
I'm just waiting for the new Ultimate..... what is everyone's guess as to when it will be released?
Only one of these two parties is a criminal threatening to murder the other. That's why your analysis is completely wrong.
After finishing my first ever driving lesson, the 'instructor' drove me home, reaching 40mph in a 30mph zone. 'I'll get you home quickly' he said....
What I want is not to be close passed, so despite having the excellent Varia Radar and a Fly-6, all that tech is not as effective as a £1 white...
There is an unfortunate irony in the suggestion that less cycling to school is part of the solution here.