Tag Archives: railway walk

Grant awarded to Buckingham’s Railway Walk Conservation Group

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Buckingham Railway Walk Conservation Volunteers (RWCV) have received a grant of £3,000 from Heart of Bucks Community Foundation, a grant-giving registered charity, committed to making a difference to the lives of local people.

The RWCV are a wildlife conservation group in Buckingham, maintaining a wildlife corridor along the western end of Buckingham along an old train line, discontinued in the 1960s. The area is a series of ponds, created as nature-friendly wet spaces, alongside glades, an orchard and raised bridges. The conservation project encourages people to enjoy the benefits of being close to nature and promotes positive wellbeing. The funding from Heart of Bucks will allow more people within Buckingham to experience this positive impact either by volunteering with the project or reaping the benefits of the group’s work and enjoying the improved outside spaces that the project develops.

Group of volunteers standing near bus

The group has been running since 2006 and promotes and takes action to conserve local wildlife, by caring for the green space to preserve, increase and educate others about the biodiversity of the site. The activities are coordinated by The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and regular work parties take place on the first Saturday of the month. Previous activities have included: thinning trees, fence repairs, glade cutting and clearing, nest and bat boxes, and hedge maintenance.

Katherine Miskin, Volunteer Coordinator at TCV said

“The Trust are delighted to be working with the Buckingham Railway Walk Conservation group. This funding will allow us to support the group by leading more sessions, reaching more volunteers and training the volunteers in a range of practical conservation techniques. “

Schedule of activities for the year ahead:

Date Activity
Nov 5th 2022 Coppicing and removing rubbish from the ponds
Dec 3rd 2022 Clearing fallen branches, cutting back overhangs.
Jan 7th 2023 Wassail event, plus pruning of apples trees at Berties Walk
Feb 4th 2023 Making bird feeders. Clearing fallen branches
March 4th 2023 Step repairs
April 1st 2023 Small mammal survey
May 6th 2023 To be confirmed
Jun 3rd 2023 Checking condition of signs, fences etc and cleaning.
Jul 3rd 2023 Pruning plum trees at Berties Walk

Pond at Railway Walk

To find out more or to get involved with the project contact k.miskin@tcv.org.uk

 

A real way along the railway

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For some years, Buckingham Town Council has been campaigning for all roads within the bypass to be 30mph and lit, so they were disappointed by Buckinghamshire Council’s recent decision to reduce the speed limit on Tingewick Road to only 40mph.

The Town Council’s Planning Committee considers it imperative to implement the s106 agreement for St Rumbold’s Fields immediately so that residents of this 400-dwelling estate will be able to access the London Road schools and the industrial estate in safety on foot or by bicycle. The route of the old railway – the Scenic Walk at the Tingewick Road end, and Railway Walk from the University’s car park to the bypass – is intended to become a combined cycle and pedestrian path with streetlighting, which will have access to Chandos Road via a ‘permissive path’ link through the University’s land.

The s106 agreement states that the details of the footway/cycleway works should have been agreed, laid out and constructed before any occupation of the housing and that deadline passed some time ago. It will involve drainage works as well as the path construction and will take some time to construct once the details have been agreed. Meanwhile, schoolchildren and employees of companies on the Industrial Park will have to negotiate the mud and rough surface of the Scenic Walk – or cross a 40mph road to use the footpath on the north side of Tingewick Road to go through the town. The other option is to use the car, adding to the traffic on the bypass.

Councillor Mark Cole JP, Chairman of the Planning Committee, said: “We will continue to push for the speed limit to be lowered to 30mph, but meantime we call on the developers to meet their obligation under the s106 agreement to construct this much-needed footpath. If it is not usable for pedestrians and cyclists, then car use will increase, against all national and local initiatives to get people out of their cars.”