Children in the Whitehaven area will be safer on their way to school when the new school term arrives next week thanks to a £250,000 investment from Cumbria County Council.
A brand new, mile-long footpath has been built along Harras Moor between the Highlands Housing Estate on the east side of Whitehaven and schools and other facilities.
The county council's local committee for Copeland set its sights on building the footpath after a local schoolboy was clipped by a wing mirror as he walked along the stretch of road. The county council's cabinet agreed to make extra money available to finish the job as quickly as possible.
All media are invited to the opening ceremony on Wednesday, August 29th, at 2pm where the new footpath will be formally opened by Ronnie Calvin, chairman of Cumbria County Council's Local Committee for Copeland, and Anne Faichney, Mayor of Copeland. The opening will take place at the top of the hill on Harras Moor Road.
Mr Calvin said: "The new footway will undoubtedly make schoolchildren and pedestrians safer and shows what councillors can achieve when they work together."
Harras Moor Road is used by many members of the community as well as hundreds of children on their way to school. Two stone benches, made by some of the area's young people taking part in the Stonecraft initiative which was run by Groundwork West Cumbria, have been placed along the new footpath to provide places to rest. The benches were kindly donated by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans.
The road was already served by a footway between St Benedict's School and the hamlet of Harras Moor about half way along Harras Moor Road at the top of the steep hill down to Solway View/Wellington Row. But the rest of the route between Harras Moor and the highlands area had no pavement and there have been calls over a number of years from local residents for the missing section of footway to be constructed.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Justin Hawkins, Media Officer on 01228 606334
Notes
The road, the U4008, is slightly over a mile long and is the main pedestrian link between the new Highlands Housing Estate on the east side of Whitehaven and St James' Junior School in Wellington Row, St. James' Infant School on High Street and St Benedict's RC High School on Red Lonning. Whitehaven Secondary School and Mayfield School for the Disabled are also within walking distance.