Public footpath review (south of Shirebrook)

If you read my report after the last STC Operations Committee meeting, you know that the public footpaths legislation will change in December this year. These areas are now maintained by the county council, but after the law changes, parish councils will take over this responsibility. Local councils must decide which of the public footpaths to take over and which to abandon.

If you want to check where there are public footpaths in our town, you can use this website: https://footpathmap.co.uk/map/?zoom=15&lng=-1.22555&lat=53.19833

The situation in southern Shirebrook is slightly different as part of the public footpaths is located in the Brook Park area. The maintenance of these sites belongs to the owner, in this case, The Land Trust. Brook Park runs south of Sookholme Road, across the area between SportsDirect and the railroad to a patch of land adjacent to the south of Meadow Lane and Weighbridge Lane as far as Common Lane. I travelled all paths on a bicycle. They are generally passable and well maintained, although sometimes overgrown with vegetation. However, in several places, I happened to encounter large holes in the ground.

The rest of the public footpaths lie within the town limits. Their condition varies from well maintained to utterly neglected. I also found that some have already been seized or cut off from public use. A few are asphalted and illuminated, but the vast majority are unpaved, covered with gravel and unlit. Generally, those pathways that serve as links between neighbourhoods are well-kept. The ones mainly used by dog walkers and joggers are in a slightly worse condition. Still, they can be used without changing into Rambo to tear through the vegetation.

To make this article more interesting for readers I attached photos. I hope it will also help STC decide which paths to look after. Each path I have visited has been marked with a number. I hope it will make it easier to recognize their location on the map below.

MAP
Before we start the review, I must admit that I do not fully understand the map from the page whose link I gave at the beginning of the article. On the map, we can find several types of lines (continuous red, dashed red, dashed green, dashed brown, etc.). So when driving, I looked for those clearly marked with a signpost saying “Public footpath”. Unfortunately, few paths marked on the map as “Public” do not exist at all or have been closed (sometimes by a gate marked “Private Land” or simply by an unmarked gate or fence).

If you notice that I have missed any “public footpath” in my review- I would greatly appreciate hearing from you at info@shirebrooknews.com so that I can update the article and provide accurate information to STC.

Currently, the map looks like that:


PUBLIC FOOTPATH 1
This one starts at Riding Hill Avenue (pic 1A) and connect the Shire Hills area (Leen Valley Drive, Bracken Road, Orchid Way, Stinting Lane) through the bottom of The Peak (pic 1B) with Model Village. The west side (Shire Hills side) is paved but a bit overgrown, the east side (leading to Model Village) is paved, with working lighting and well maintained. Therefore, this path should be adopted, and the west side should be upgraded (paved along with all Riding Hill Avenue).

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 2
This one starts at Stinting Lane/Leen Valley Drive junction(pic 2) and leads to Meadow Lane(pic 2D) with a halfway fork at the south side. West fork leads to a newly built neighbourhood called Meadow View and connects with new Aster Road to cut into meadows again(pic 2A) and lead to back Meadow Lane. From Aster Road to fork, the footpath looks fantastic(pic2B)- that is how every footpath should look like. East fork goes straight to Meadow Lane over an old steel bridge.

If you make a close up on the map- the straight line from the north entrance to the south exit is named Stinting Lane- I hope this means a plan to change it into a road. It would help ease traffic at Common Lane/Main Street junction near a cemetery. The north part of the footpath is vastly overgrown, so I do not recommend going there in shorts (I learned that hard way- both sides of the path is overgrown with nettle). Weirdly- some parts of the path are paved, some parts are unpaved with loose gravel on top. The path is filled with potholes, but it’s quiet and nice so its frequently used by dog walkers. I think STC should adopt it.

There is also a path from the old bridge to Model village on the map, but if you try to use this path, you will meet with no entry sign (pic 3C).

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 3
This path entrance is at meadow Lane/Heather Way roundabout(pic 3), through Brook Park, over Green Lane into… farmland. As you can see in the picture below- someone uses that path, so there is a clear path through crops leading to Wood Lane(pic 3A). Who and why go there- no idea. I don’t think many people from Shirebrook use it- it’s so overgrown that I failed to push my bike through bushes on the farmland border. The north part of the path is maintained by The Land Trust. Due to lousy maintenance, the south part is probably used by very few people. In my opinion, STC should not adopt the south part.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 4
This one was interesting. I approached it from the south- the entrance is at Wood Lane(pic4). As you can see in the picture below- it’s marked, but the access is steep and was muddy and quite slippery. My adventurer spirit pushed me to go through tho. Just to see how it look like. Loads of nettle on the sides, no footprints or bicycle tyre tracks in the mud, so it’s not used(pic4A). No idea why anyone wants to use it- it leads to Prospect Drive and Long Lane, but there are easier ways to access those areas.

Since the area between Shire Hills and Model Village is owned by Homes-England (government), I can assume that this area is destined to be turned from farmland into a residential area. Therefore, maybe those inaccessible and poorly maintained pathways will be lifted to a more accessible and modern state.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 5
Rambo style pathway! Even my adventurer spirit failed there- I didn’t dare to cross the entrance from the south(pic5). It goes from Weighbridge Lane, behind Shirebrook Business Park, to Acreage Lane in Model Village. As you can see in the picture below- completely overgrown, taken over by nature. This is a clear indication that people have no interest in using it, so STC can ditch the south part of this path. North part leads from Acreage Lane to sport fields in Model Village.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 6
North entrance at Long Lane. The south entrance at the crossing of Acreage Lane with Weighbridge Lane. The path connects the SportsDirect area with the town centre. Well maintained, paved, partially lit, heavily used. It should be adopted.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 7
Another interesting one. The South part connects Swanwick Avenue, alongside The Croft to Long Lane. The north side should connect Long Lane with Main Street and town centre but at the moment its…closed by… BDC building site(pic7). I can’t be sure, but I think they will build the proper path when they finish building homes. The public pathway sign is still there, so…

I think the south part should be adopted, but there won’t be a tragedy if STC drops the north part- there are alternative paths leading to the town centre from Model Village.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 8
Rambo gave up here and retired in shame. Just look at the picture below: bushes thick like in a jungle, huge fence and padlock. No access even you can clearly see “Public footpath” sign from behind the fence. The whole east side of this path is closed off: from Long Line up to Portland Drive. The east side of the path leads into Brook Park and its maintained well.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 9
North entrance at Portland Road (on the side of Fire Station). The quality of the sign at the entrance is a perfect introduction to what this path represents(pic9). The south end should connect with Pathway 8, but it’s cut off at Sookholme Road. Crossing of paths 8 with 9 is so overgrown that I couldn’t see it when I was there. However, I noticed it on satellite pictures of Google maps when I started to prepare this article.

Anyway- the north part of this pathway is paved but also covered by piles of beer cans, rotting leaves and broken tree branches. The sides of the path are so overgrown with bushes and low hanging tree branches that I struggled to cross it on my bicycle(pic9A). I think this path is so secluded that it’s only used by alcoholics (do you get my “perfect introduction sign” remark?). 15 meters east from this footpath, there is a well-lit sidewalk at Portland Drive, so I don’t see any reason to adopt this path at the moment. This could change due to the planned residential area in this place(9B).

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 10
This path should start at Hardwick Street at the north and end at Sookholme Road at the south. In reality- this pathway does not exist. There is no entrance, no exit, no signs, not even a trace of anyone going through vegetation. There was nothing to take a picture of.

PUBLIC FOOTPATH 11
In this section, I placed all footpaths on the east side of Brook Park. All well maintained, although unpaved. The whole area is heavily used by cyclists, walkers, joggers and… horse riders (assuming by the huge amount of “horse surprises” on the ground). Since maintenance is out of council responsibility there is no reason to review the area in detail.

SUMMARY

That is it. Adoption of pathways must be done by December. It seems that by using the paths, the inhabitants chose themselves which of them they would like to keep and which are unnecessary. The situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that much of the currently undeveloped land in the south of the town is intended for residential development in the future. Hence – paths that seem unnecessary today may turn out to be indispensable in a few years. The STC must take this into account when deciding whether to take over or abandon each path.

Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com