Magrath Ave / Castle Hill permissive route
The permissive route between Shire Hall and Magrath Avenue has issues (not the least of which being there are steps) however it does cut through the middle of what is otherwise an overly large block between Victoria Road and Chesterton Lane. There is also some irony in the fact that it appears to be the last remnants of a way that was once a Roman Road from Castle Hill heading due north.
Naturally, it is under threat from the sale of Shire Hall. We received the following e-mail:
Can you help ? As you may be aware the County Council has leased the
Shire hall and some of the surrounding buildings to a development
company. At present the situation regarding public access to the
permissive path that runs between the top of McGrath Avenue and Castle
Hill remains unclear. There is to be a public meeting sometime in
December or early January where Suffolk County Council as arbitrator
will take submissions.
Some neighbours and I are collecting data on the numbers of pedestrians
and cyclists that use the cut through during rush hours - at present the
number of journeys made per hour range from 116 (49 cyclists) to 149 (69
cyclists)which is just over 2 journeys per minute.
Thus as you can see closing this path would be a tremendous loss to the
local community forcing many people into taking busier routes along
Victoria Road and other major routes increasing the risk of accidents.
We would be very grateful for your support. There is to be a link on
the County Council website for submissions but alternatively you can
send statements to Jocelynne Scutt , copying in Claire Richards ( both
County Councillors). These statements will then be forwarded to Suffolk
County Council in batches rather than receiving them
individually.Please see above for Jocelynne's and Claire's email
addresses.