Hope Valley College

By Matt Scorer

Hope Valley College was recently visited by top GB cyclist Ben Swift to add weight to their campaign for a safe cycle route through the Hope Valley. 

Ben, from neighbouring Dronfield, represented team GB in the 2008 Olympics and is a professional road and track racing cyclist, who as a junior won two national championships. He said : "It's brilliant to see so many young people this passionate about cycling and doing so much to enable them to use their bikes more. It bodes well for the future of British cycling."

Campaign leader and Science Teacher Steve Taylor: "To have Ben come in and talk to the students about safe cycling will have really helped to make students aware of what we are trying to achieve. Speaking to students and parents it is apparent that many students would cycle to College if a safe route was available instead of the current route which is a busy main road."

The College has been holding discussions and lobbying Derbyshire County Council's Countryside and Greenways Officer, Wayne Bexton to have a 'Greenway' route put through the Hope Valley safely connecting Hathersage with Castleton.

Whilst a cycle lane currently exists between Hathersage and Brough, a 'Greenway' would safely separate cyclists and horse riders off the main road and creating a more user friendly route for the College students, locals and tourists to travel by bike along the valley.

Mr. Taylor added: "We are hopeful that the route's design will be completed by early 2010 and whilst at this stage it won't include villages not on the main road we will continue to lobby the powers that be to extend the route to other villages. We started working on this at the start of this year and we are making solid progress leaving no stone unturned."

The visit coincided with a visit from local Labour MP Tom Levitt which saw the Mr. Levitt presented with a mass of letters from students demanding a safe cycle route. The students' letters will be forwarded to the County Council to strengthen the campaign.

Head of English Margaret Hayes, who assisted students with their letters, said: "This is something that the students feel very strongly about as they want to be able to cycle to College safely. It is really amazing that they have conveyed their feelings in such a mature way and demonstrated such strong citizenship skills."

Principal Bernie Hunter said: "As a College we feel it is important that we champion the views of our students. We are aware that many of our students would like to cycle to College but with the only viable option being a busy main road they are unable to do so due to safety issues. Not only will a safe cycle route through the Valley allow for more environmentally friendly travel it will also enable students to get more exercise into their daily routine. The students have expressed their views in such a mature way, making us proud to add weight to a campaign that not only matters to our students, but also the community as a whole."

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