IT has been announced that Thame?s proposed Cycle Route Network will not now go ahead.
Oxfordshire County Council?s transport programme for 2006/7, does not include the Thame scheme, which had been planned and consulted on widely since 2002.
OCC?s Senior Transport Planner, Craig Rossington, said in a letter to the Town Clerk: ?The decision to stop work on the Thame Cycle Route Network has not been an easy one. The scheme is one of a number that have been removed from the county council?s programme in response to new objectives and priorities of the Council?s second Local Transport Plan, which will come into effect in July, 2006.?
The scheme apparently does not satisfy new government guidelines designed to prioritise funding to schemes that show the most benefit in the areas of air quality, accessibility, road safety or improving street environment.
Cathy Gaulter-Carter, Chair of Thame Walking And Cycling group (TWAC), which campaigned and was consulted about the plans for the Network, said today: ?I am very disappointed that such a marvellous scheme for Thame has been abandoned through a lack of energy and enthusiasm and that a lot of time has been spent on the detail of the proposal.
?I have written to Boris Johnson asking him to look into the matter and to see if OCC will reconsider.
?If the county council had kept their eye on ball and kept an officer in ownership of the scheme, I am convinced we would have the cycling network by now. This scheme was started before the December 2004 guidelines were issued and should not therefore, I believe, be restrained by them.?
Photo: Cathy Gaulter-Carter, Chair of TWAC
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