Thursday, March 5 2009
Sustrans, the impetus behind the national cycle network project, has commissioned transport planner JMP to prepare an economic assessment of the benefits that the Spen Valley Greenway in West Yorkshire brings to the local community.
The Greenway, together with the Calder Valley Greenway, provides a 20km-long traffic-free cycling and walking route along a former rail line in Kirklees.
The aim is to put an economic value on the route, using the recently announced Department for Transport appraisal guidance for cycling projects.
JMP project director Dr Alan Beswick said that this would be one of the first attempts to use the new appraisal guidance, developed with the assistance of Sustrans, to get a broader assessment of the value that such routes bring to the local community.