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Project Update and Meeting Minutes

Planning Application

DEAN FOREST GREENWAY multi-use track linking Parkend and Lydney
The revised Planning Application for the Dean Forest Greenway between Parkend and Lydney has been submitted and is now available to view https://www.fdean.gov.uk/…/view-planning-applications/ with the reference P1913/21/FUL.
It is an extremely detailed set of documents which give all the information about the route, supporting evidence and also community support letters (in Appendix 2a)
Please share as widely as possible; groups you are members of, businesses where your employees can cycle to work, families that enjoy exploring the outdoors etc.
We encourage everyone to submit their views about this long awaited safe route between Parkend and Lydney and now need individual responses to be submitted to FODDC to show how much this route will benefit everyone. Public comments can be submitted through the planning portal, by letter or email as outlined.

Article from West Dean Parish Newsletter:

John Grimshaw explains the reasoning behnd this project and how fantastic it would be for the Forest of Dean to create a link between Parkend and Lydney. A safe family route away from the busy Forest Road and following the Dean Forest Railway line.

 

A traffic-free journey from Parkend to Lydney?

FROM where I live in Bristol the Forest of Dean is largely inaccessible. I do not own a car, the bus route has been cancelled, the trains involved a 45-minute wait at Severn Tunnel junction – surely the bleakest platform in the country – and even if I could reach Lydney, the traffic on Forest Road is a real deterrent for cycling to Parkend and its network of railway paths, forest tracks and wonderful forest places.

I guess when Forest Road was built it was a great cycle ride with its even gradient, sinuous curves and River Severn views. But now there is too much traffic which goes too fast and there are some horrendous potholes – at
least for cyclists. Over the years there have been numerous attempts to make a safe route but these have floundered for one reason or another.

As our small charity, Greenways andCycleroutes, was building the Wye Valley Greenway from Chepstow to Tintern, we were invited to provide our views on the various options and how to realise a route.

Local people will know that the creation of a really good walking and cycling route from Lydney to Parkend, is something of a challenge. The road, river and railway are packed into a narrow-steep sided valley with little
space for any sort of path.

It seemed to us that the key to the whole outcome was the existing forest track along the edge of Norchard Wood overlooking Norchard Station. We depend on a connection through to Norchard Wood. This requires some bold
engineering and the willing support of a number of landowners including Lydney Park Estate, Dean Forest Railway and Forestry England. We are seeking support from landowners in the Lydney town area to provide a traffic free route into the centre of town.

This 5-mile route requires six new bridges, including one over the railway to access Norchard Station and one new underpass beneath the railway to reach the centre of Lydney.

Greenways is working closely with the councils and landowners to draw up detailed proposals to make a planning application in the autumn and, with a fair wind, an opening at Easter 2022.

There are a many flood plains, river crossings, details of road crossing and signing but it will be worth it. A finger of the Forest will reach all the way to Lydney whichwill become the Gateway to the Forest of Dean.

John Grimshaw
Greenways andCycleroutes