Welcome!
We
commence
our
journey
of
exploration
along
the
disused
Mickle
Trafford
railway on
a
sunny
day
in
October
1997,
looking
in
the
direction
of
Mickle
Trafford.Wreathed in deep shadow from the surrounding mature trees, here we see the bridge that carries Newton Lane over the bed of the old railway. Its dimensions are typical of the many other bridges on the line, several of which we shall encounter in the course of our stroll.
It seems difficult to imagine how a cycletrack, a footpath and a two-lane
busway are all to be made to fit into the limited space available under
these bridges without severe compromises- buses naturally having priority
over walkers and cyclists.The only bus stop along the course of Phase I of the busway- between the Mannings Lane Park & Ride site and the city centre- is planned to be situated in close proximity to this bridge. To avoid the Newton area turning into one large car park as a consequence of this, severe new parking restrictions and other 'complimentary measures' (details of which have not yet been made publicly available) are apparently to be introduced throughout this residential area.
In addition, neighbouring allotments and other open green spaces are being snapped up by developers- such as the grounds of the nearby New Scene Youth Club, for which a planning application for a housing scheme was submitted in May 1999.
Our next page shows a steam train passing beneath this bridge back in 1955 and here is the same area photographed in July 2000, showing how the environment around Newton Lane Bridge had radically improved thanks to the construction of the SUSTRANS cycletrack...
In sharp contrast, however, on the right we can see the Newton Lane bridge
as featured in one of the council's 'artist's impressions' of the CDTS
busway as they imagine it would appear "five years after opening"-
a dreary, utilitarian environment whose only function would appear to
be to shift shoppers from the Manning's Lane Park
& Ride to the city centre and back again.
What appeal is a place like this likely to have for Chester's hard-pressed
families, desperate for a place to relax, breathe clean air and give their
children somewhere to be, just for once, safe from a growing horde of
speeding motorists?
Just
in case you were experiencing difficulty in visualising just how much
space two buses side-by-side actually take, here is a rather fuzzy photograph
taken at the Upton Park-and-Ride site which appeared in the Chester local
press at the end of August 2000 to accompany an appeal by Anne Jones
of the Society for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) for
the retention of the route as a haven for walkers and cyclists.