Background
The Burtonwood to Omega cycleway is a 1.5km long brand new tarmac path between Hayley Road South in Burtonwood village and J8 of the M62.
Its formal status is a cycle track with a right of way on foot for shared use by pedestrians, cyclists and people with disabilities.
Because of Clay Lane and Burtonwood Road's constrained width, the scheme required land acquisition from several adjacent landowners.
The Secretary of State approved the CPO following a public inquiry in November 2019. After this was Formalised through the Omega to Burtonwood Accessibility Improvements Compulsory Purchase Order in 2019, we took ownership of the land in July 2020.
Description of the Scheme
The scheme consists of a 3.5m wide path with grass verges, new fencing and new lighting along its length. To the south, it links into the existing shared-use trail running around the west side of the J8 roundabout and links into the rest of the Warrington shared use network on Skyline Drive, Burtonwood Road and Charon Drive. It's an important new link on the Warrington Cycling and Walking network and allows us to progress with our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).
Funding
The scheme's funding derived from a combination of government money via the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, council borrowing and developer funding from the Omega s106 Agreement. The total scheme cost is expected to out-turn at around £1.25m.
Delivery
The works were undertaken by the principal contractor George Cox and Sons Ltd and supervised by the council. They began in July 2020 and completed in January 2021. The new path is now open for use though some minor landscaping works took place throughout the spring and summer of 2021. In addition to the new path, a bench has been provided near the Ordnance Survey Triangulation station on Clay Lane as well as a waste bin.
Following the relaxing of covid-19 restrictions, an opening ceremony took place on 12 September 2021. This included the naming of the new path as the 'Terry O'Neill Way', in memory of the former council leader and ward councillor for Burtonwood, who passed away in 2019.
