A26 Off Road Cyclepath Tonbridge to Hadlow - Update - Sept '23

Dear A26 Off Road Cyclepath Tonbridge to Hadlow supporters

I am pleased to be able to give you the following update.

The Community Petition for a cycle path into Hadlow was well received by Kent County Council (KCC) . Following on from the petition, KCC  Highways and Transportation Department have since carried out an investigation of the options for the proposed route.

They have subsequently produced a report which was submitted to KJTB.  Both they and I gave a presentation to the Kent Joint Transportation Board (KJTB), at it's September meeting. 

Various off-road route options for the cyclepath were outlined and a preferred off-road route has been identified. This option makes use of existing infrastructure and would require some existing footpaths to be upgraded. The initial proposal for the project was that it should be broken down into phases for delivery.  The Plan is to carry out further investigations this year. 

There was strong support expressed from all parties at the meeting. 

The participants in the meeting indicated that they could see that the new route would be very beneficial and approved the scheme to move forward to the next stage, which is to explore potential options for funding. 

Following a report back on funding, the Board will review the scheme in more detail.

This does look very positive.