The transformation of Cuerden Valley Park
Go behind the scenes to see how one of Lancashire's most popular green spaces has been revamped so that it can be enjoyed by people of all abilities.
Video courtesy of Lancashire County Council.
Video courtesy of Lancashire County Council.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:08 Hello, I'm Andrew Souter. I'm the Chief Exec of Curedon Valley Park Trust
00:13 and we are just about to start the construction of a brand new path through the park.
00:18 It's been supported by Lancashire County Council with some funding,
00:22 Lancashire Environment Fund with some funding and also the local parish council.
00:25 What it will allow us to do is create a new accessibility footpath that will run from the visitor centre,
00:31 where we're sat, down to a new bridge that's going to cross the River Lostock
00:35 and join with the new upgrades to the cycle path and take people through the park.
00:40 The park's about 650 acres and we have a lot of local residents that will come and walk here literally every day.
00:47 Lots of people come and run through the park and cycle through the park.
00:50 But we also have people coming from further afield to enjoy the cafe, which is where we're sat now.
00:56 One of the challenges we have is that the park broadly follows the line of the River Lostock as it runs through the valley.
01:02 And being a river valley, that means the sides of the park are quite steep as they descend towards the river.
01:08 Unfortunately, that means for accessibility purposes, some of the paths are a little bit difficult for people with mobility needs.
01:15 So addressing that has long been an ambition of the trustees.
01:20 And thanks to this current project, we're about to create a brand new route,
01:23 which will give people a much easier route down into the valley and allow them to experience the park in a much more inclusive way.
01:31 [Music]
01:57 My name's Tony. I work for Lancashire County Council and I work in the Rights of Way team.
02:02 And I'm down at Kewerden today and we're having a look at, it's about the halfway point through this project.
02:08 So one of the reasons that Lancashire County Council is really keen to support projects like this is we want to see more people out enjoying the countryside, getting out, getting a bit of exercise.
02:18 During the lockdown, a lot of people went out and started exploring their local area.
02:23 I'm really keen that people carry on with that. There are some great benefits for people getting out and getting more active.
02:29 One of the things that will do, I mean that people walking through the park have got a nice easy way up to use the cafe and the toilets,
02:36 which is really great because that's something that people often worry about when they go out into the countryside.
02:43 It's quite steep here we're coming up, but we're working really hard to get the gradients right so that it's not too difficult to walk on the way up.
02:51 And we're putting some resting points in as well to make it nice and easy for people and then carry on your journey up.
02:57 And there'll be a nice cup of coffee or piece of cake waiting for you at the top.
03:01 [Music]
03:22 We're then hopefully going to create a new accessibility trail that runs through some wider areas within the park.
03:28 And as part of that, again with some support from Lancashire County Council,
03:31 we are going to be able to offer the use of two tramper vehicles for people with accessibility needs.
03:37 They can come in, hire them from us and follow a marked trail through the park and hopefully get to experience some of what is a wonderful area of countryside.
03:45 [Music]
04:14 [Music]
04:24 Hi, I'm Alex from Sustrans down here at Huerden Valley Park today to take a look at some of the redesigned access control barriers
04:31 that's tying in with the new project at the visitor centre.
04:35 So you might have seen the new path that's gone in, opening up the park, make sure everyone who wants to be able to use it,
04:41 so walkers, cyclists, wheelers, you know, everyone who's got a cargo bike, anything like that,
04:46 they can simply access the park a lot easier.
04:50 It's a vast improvement. I've walked the park now for the last 20 years.
04:56 So the walk used to be down the side of the field.
05:00 It got very damaged with the rain and it was like a water path down and it eroded.
05:06 Whereas now it's nice and sort of meandering down the valley.
05:10 It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's made such a big difference.
05:13 It's such an easy gradient to walk up or push a wheelchair up.
05:18 And whether you come at seven o'clock in the morning or seven o'clock at night, there is somebody coming up or down the path.
05:25 [Music]