Extended Buckingham and Winslow cycleway officially opens

From left councillors Charlie Clare, Paul Irwin, Mark Shaw and Warren Whyte. In the blue is Bucks cycling champion Clive Harris officially opening the extension to the cycleway

The latest work on the £180,000 London Road to Buckingham schools section started in March.

This latest extension serves the Swan Pool Leisure Centre, the Buckingham School and the Royal Latin School, and involved widening the pavement along the Buckingham-bound side of London Road.

It joins an earlier £73,000 extension through the Badgers estate to Cornwalls Meadow, finished last September, in linking the town centre with the main cycleway from Winslow to the Buckingham ring road.

Mark Shaw, the county council’s deputy leader and transport cabinet member, said: “This extension really does open the choices for people to walk or cycle in Buckingham.

“We’ve already seen how well used the main section is and the two extensions will be a huge benefit for those who use the leisure centre, walk or cycle to school, and for those who want to avoid the traffic into the town centre.”

The 5.6 mile section between Winslow and the outskirts of Buckingham opened in January 2017.

Last year cycle counters on the route logged more than 10,500 journeys annually through Winslow, just over 10,000 through Padbury, and almost 8,500 past Adstock.

During some summer days, more than 100 cycle journeys a day were measured at Winslow whereas before the cycleway opened that figure was just 16.