North Northamptonshire Greenway Strategy consultation 2023

Overview

The North Northants Greenway Strategy has been developed to encourage more walking, wheeling and cycling trips across North Northants.

In order for us to attract more funding from central government to build safer routes for walkers, wheelers cyclists and in places horse-riders, local authorities are required to have a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

Many of our towns in North Northants either have a LCWIP or are in the process of having one developed. For the more rural areas, a similar strategy is required, therefore this strategy is in effect the overall North Northamptonshire Greenway LCWIP which connects North Northamptonshire’s key settlements and identifies all the trip generators.

The guidance for producing LCWIPs has been followed using data from existing walking and cycling trips to produce this strategy. This data identifies 33 routes across North Northamptonshire connecting places of work, education, tourism, recreation and leisure, totalling nearly 300 kilometres.

This strategy has been funded through the “Shared Prosperity Fund” which enables local authorities to build capacity and fund research in order to put themselves in a better position for future rounds of government funding.

The routes identified in this Strategy will cost approximately £40 million to build. In order to fund them we will be submitting applications to various funding streams as and when they are available, subject to the fund’s criteria and how individual routes may match them.

The work to create this Strategy involved a number of internal stakeholders from North Northamptonshire Council and other statutory bodies including Natural England, Environment Agency, National Highways, and other organisations including Wildlife Trust, Northamptonshire Local Access Forum Group, Nene Rivers Trust and Sustrans.

We now want to hear the views of the wider community to how we can achieve this vision of nearly 300 kilometres of safer routes across North Northamptonshire.

By responding, your views will be fed back into the North Northamptonshire Executive and then incorporated into the Strategy which will be adopted in late Autumn 2023. Once adopted the Strategy will be considered during future development contributions and active travel funding applications.

We are also hoping to start a network of Greenway Champions. As a Greenway Champion you will help raise the profile of this strategy.

It’s very simple! All we would ask that you help spread the word about the North Northants Greenway, its benefits, how they make walking, cycling, and wheeling a more pleasant option, talking about it with your friends, neighbours and community, giving some thought to how an off-road route could work in your area. Helping us to keep the strategy and its ambitions alive and in the fore front of people’s minds.

Further details of how to register your interest in being a Greenway Champion can be found within the below questionnaire.

The North Northants Greenway Strategy

Please read the related documents to gain a better understanding of our proposals before giving us your feedback:

• North Northamptonshire Greenway Strategy - DRAFT
• North Northamptonshire Greenway Strategy Executive Report 14 September 2023 and its Appendices (Item 9)

Have your say

Please tell us your views by completing this questionnaire.

This questionnaire is set out into different sections. The first section asks three questions about you. This helps us understand who we are engaging with and if different organisations or communities have different views.

The next section asks for your views about different aspects of the overarching North Northamptonshire Greenway strategy, including its objectives, funding and how we are proposing to prioritise the order in which routes will be delivered.

You can then give us your feedback about any of the 33 proposed routes.

You do not have to answer all of the questions or give us your feedback on every section. If you do not wish to answer a question or give feedback on a specific section, then you can skip those questions and move on to the next section.

Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.

You can also access this online questionnaire free of charge at any North Northamptonshire Council library. Please see the Library website or telephone 0300 126 3000 to check opening times.

Alternatively, you can email or send your comments in by post using the contact details below.

If you have any queries, comments or would like a copy of this questionnaire in another format (including paper, easy read or large print) you can contact us by email, post or telephone. Our contact details are as follows:

Email address: lucy.hawes@northnorthants.gov.uk

Postal address:

• Greenway consultation response
• North Northamptonshire Council
• East Northamptonshire House 
• Cedar Drive
• Thrapston
• NN14 4LZ

The deadline for completing this questionnaire is midnight 1 November 2023.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.

Thank you for helping us by completing this questionnaire.

We are also consulting on the route linking Wellingborough to Rushden, details of that consultation are available on our website.