New walking and cycling route will give improved access to scenic Middlewood Way and town centre

16 June 2023

A further walking and cycling route is nearing completion, as Cheshire East Council presses ahead with active travel schemes in the borough.

And the very latest scheme, once completed, will offer much-improved access from Macclesfield to one of the borough’s outstanding countryside amenities – the Middlewood Way.

The scheme – via Hurdsfield Road and Black Lane – has been substantially funded by Sustrans, the sustainable transport organisation, and again represents the quality of planned, or developed cycling and walking routes in Cheshire East. Costing £750,000 the route has been constructed to National Cycle Network design principles for high quality cycle way infrastructure.

Black Lane, in Macclesfield, is a popular route for cyclists accessing Middlewood Way and the town centre but is narrow and busy with commercial traffic and traffic leaving the large Tesco store, where there is also a filling station.

Footways on Black Lane and Hurdsfield Road have been widened. New crossing points have been added. The scheme also includes upgrades to a toucan crossing and a signalled junction on Hurdsfield Road and improved street lighting. Tactile surface tiling has been laid to emphasise walking and cycling priority, along with raised highway surfaces at various crossing points. As well as new signage, there will be a new guard rail alongside the River Bollin.

Councillor Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council deputy leader and chair of the highways and transport committee, said: “Active travel is a key policy of this council and is embedded in our long-term core objectives to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. This project will also make a contribution towards our target to become carbon-neutral, both as a council and a borough.

“We are pleased that Sustrans and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, have seen fit to support this project. The Middlewood Way is a scenic, rural walking and cycling route and this additional work will give users a close link with the town centre of Macclesfield, the railway station and other amenities, while access to Middlewood Way opens up an 11mile traffic-free, uninterrupted, canal-side journey through Bollington and Higher Poynton, and onto Marple in the borough of Stockport.”

UK Shared Prosperity Fund has contributed £100k to the Black Lane scheme. Sustrans has contributed £568,620, with £40,000 coming from Cheshire East Council. 

Some interruption to the completion of the entire scheme has become unavoidable, while the planned crossing point at the exit from the Tesco store is refined to meet the landowner’s requirements. But once fully completed, the new route will add to the many other active travel schemes the council is progressing as part of its policy to reduce car dependency, improve air quality and promote Cheshire East as a green borough.