DCC quote lack of finance as the reason for inaction on this project. But this doesn’t quite stack up. We have been campaigning on this since 2000 which takes us back to a time when DCC had plenty of spending power. But also, DCC have received central government funding for sustainable transport projects. And the steam railway’s security issues can’t be a show-stopper here – surely it’s not beyond our capabilities to secure the steam railway station without compromising its wonderful aesthetics – after all this is Totnes not Afghanistan!
DCC know that this project has overwhelming support in the community. After receiving £5.4m from central government for sustainable transport revenue and capital projects, DCC conducted a public consultation exercise to help determine what to spend the money on. DCC report “Totnes on the Move” was issued in May 2011, summarising this exercise. Guess which proposal had more mentions that any other? Yes, the Littlehempston – Totnes cycle path, with 22 separate references. So DCC asked the voters what they wanted the money to be spend on…. and they decided to ignore us.
We are investigating what has happened to this central government funding. More on that soon.