| Councillors this week agreed to go ahead with the £250,000 Monifieth-Carnoustie cycleway as soon as possible, and are also progressing plans to continue the track on to Easthaven, a project which will cost a further £180,000.
The latest elements of the scheme have been welcomed locally, and as the council was urged to continue to pursue land and funding for missing parts of the coastal chain, the area’s planning chief said a coastal pathway remained a key objective of the authority.
Planning officials admitted that progress on the Monifieth to Carnoustie stretch has taken longer than anticipated because of the time involved in striking a deal with the MoD for a strip of ground near Barry.
The ten-metre-wide stretch will cost the council around £4000, and the route will then continue from Barry into the links town.
“The preferred route is to continue alongside the railway, along the edge of the golf practice ground to connect with the service road adjacent to the Burnside golf course,” said planning director Alex Anderson.
“Informal discussions with Carnoustie Golf Links management committee have been positive, but it will be necessary to negotiate an agreement with the committee to allow this route to be developed,” he added.
Angus Council is also pinning its hopes on Scottish Water, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Enterprise Tayside and Angus Environmental Trust putting funding into the project to allow the work to go ahead in the 2004/05 cycle.
Development of the Carnoustie to Easthaven segment may be a little further away, but Angus infrastructure services committee members also gave their endorsement in principle to the plan.
Mr Anderson said a number of possible routes were explored, and the intention is to build a dedicated off-road combined cycletrack/ footway, 2.5 metres wide and about two kilometres long.
“It would, for the most part, run on the seaward side of the road, separated from the road by a grass verge, and a stockproof fence would be required along the full length to separate it from adjoining fields.
“Informal contact has been made with the relevant landowners regarding the purchase of a strip of ground by the council, and the responses so far have been positive,” added the director.
Approval of the two sections also generated focus on other parts of the Angus coastal path, in particular the planned cycleway across the Northwaterbridge viaduct, north of Montrose, which has been beset by contractual problems.
“This is the one missing link, and the owner seems determined to go to compulsory purchase,” said Montrose councillor Kitty Ritchie. |
