Canterbury-Chartham Riverside Route

The proposed route (yellow-red dashed) and the existing route (red).

Maps design CC-by-SA Spokes
Map data CC-by-SA OpenStreetMap
Additional development CC-by-SA Gregory Williams

Route

From Toddler's Cove Canterbury along the Stour to Chartham. A bridge (near Staples) will also link it to the Riverside Retail Park (from which it will link with the proposed Horses and Goats Tunnel leading into central Canterbury).

This riverside route will form an alternative to the existing NCR 18 route (which, unlike the new route, is not prone to flooding).

The route is about 5 km long.

CCC webpage

This proposed route, its present state and its planned development is fully described in this update (source) by Canterbury City Council.

Rationale

Commuting (incl school children), leisure, tourism

Maps

OpenCycleMap
Google map and Bing map
Ordnance Survey map (offers scale of 1:50000) or alternatively StreetMap (offers scale of 1:25000).
Shown as Route 24 on the map in the Canterbury Walking and Cycling Strategy (2003).
KCC plan (source) of the overall route and detailed plan (source) showing the locations of the three bridges at the Canterbury end.
Landscape plan by Kent Enterprise Trust of Hambrook Marshes showing the route of the proposed cycleway and also proposed footpaths across the marsh.

History

Survey work in progress, 1993

View larger photo

New bridge over the Stour, 2010

View larger photo

1987: A footpath/cycleway running from Milton Bridge (the A28 roadbridge over the Stour) to Toddler's Cove was proposed in the Canterbury Riverside Parks and Footpaths policy.
1993: Sheila Webb (co-founder of Spokes in 1994) organised a survey (photo) of the Stour valley for KCC and Sustrans.
1993/4: The section of the route from Chartham to the boundary with the Bretts gravel workings was constructed.
1997: The section of the route (photo) from the Bretts boundary to Horton Manor was constructed.
2007: First planning application CA//07/01724 (source), subsequently withdrawn).
2008: A section of path around Toddlers Cove was built
March 2009: Spokes prints and distributes a leaflet (page 1 and page 2) outlining the background to this campaign and calling for support for the planning application.
June 2009: Kent Highway Services awarded planning permission CA//09/00209 (source).
July 2009: Work started at the Canterbury end (photo) and, in December, at the Chartham end (photo)
May 2010: Work recommenced after break for winter.
Oct 2010: The new foot/cycle bridge (photo) over the Stour, linking the route to the Wincheap trading estate, is installed.
Dec 2010: At the Spokes AGM, Jon Shelton, speaking on behalf of the Kentish Stour Countryside Project, announced that this new route will be named the Kingfisher Way and that a formal opening is planned for Saturday, 21 May 2011.

Funding, sponsors and supporters

Funded by KCC and by Canterbury City Council (with a contribution of £16.5k) and by the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership (who raised £250k for the project)
Supported by Sustrans and by Kent Enterprise Trust (owner of the Hambrook Marshes)

Policy statements:

What the Canterbury Riverside Parks and Footpaths document (1987) said

Chapter 1: Policy background

... There is a particular need to provide a safe cross town route for cyclists and to protect them from the busy traffic on the A28.

Chapter 3, Section 1: Milton Bridge to Bingley's Island

... In the long term all three lakes [ie, the gravel pits workings near Tonford Manor] should form the destination for a riverside walk from the Toddler's Cove area of Westgate Gardens [to Milton Bridge on the A28].

Pages 8 and 19 of the Canterbury Riverside Parks and Footpaths: draft policy statement (1987)

This same document presented (p26/27) a Summary Map showing the route of this proposed riverside path:

What the CCC Walking and Cycling Strategy document (2003) said

Chartham to Canterbury (NCR 18 options) - Plan Reference No 24

As well as an inter-urban route this route would also have strategic importance as part of the National Cycle Network linking Ashford with Canterbury NCR 18. Ashford Borough Council have already completed the signing of the route from Chartham westwards into Ashford.

The factors affecting the various sections of the route eastwards are as follows:

Chartham to Horton:

the first section of this route would be on-carriageway on Bolts Hill, Parish Road and for a short distance along Rattington Street.

Public Footpath CB 463A

would then be used as far as Horton. Improvements would be required at the start of the footpath at Rattington Street. The footpath has already been surfaced by the Parish Council some years ago but would ideally be widened as, on average, it is only 1.5 metres wide and is overgrown with trees/vegetation.

Horton to Milton Manor:

There are two options for this section--- both would require the agreement of the landowner who has consistently refused to permit cycling on this land although negotiations are still continuing. If a route were not possible the only unsatisfactory alternative for this section of NCR 18 would be using the busy A28.

Option A

Continuing along the riverside using Public Footpath CB 463A. There is no riverside route under the A28, so the route would need to turn left along the existing private road leading to an existing access road under the A28.

Option B

At Horton, the route could turn left onto private pathways which would require some surface upgrading. Before the pathway reaches the railway line, the route would turn right running parallel with the railway before passing under the A28 bridge near Milton Manor roundabout.

Milton Manor to Tonford Lane

This section is also only possible using privately owned land. The only alternative routes into Canterbury would be using the A28 or Cockering Road neither of which are considered suitable as National Cycle Routes. Existing paths running parallel with the railway line would need surface improvements. The paths continue as far as the path extending from Tonford Lane. Links are possible at this point with the proposed routes to Harbledown and Whitehall Road.

Tonford Lane to Thanington

A path on the north side of the river could be constructed joining the Thanington to Stour Street route via a footbridge which would cross the River Stour and then link up with an existing path at the rear of Staples. The Canterbury multi-storey car park/British Home Stores bridge link which was removed as part of the Whitefriars redevelopment has been stored for this river crossing.

From Thanington, the route into Canterbury is described in the Cotton Road to Tannery route in section 8.6 (Plan Reference E).

From section 8.5.1 of the Canterbury Walking and Cycling Strategy (2003)