Group seeks funding for Sandwick cycle path
A NEW cycle and footpath could be built between the Stove crossroads and Hoswick in Sandwick if a local community group is successful in applying for funding.
The project could also act a trial, possibly leading to similar paths being created in Sandwick and elsewhere in Shetland.
Local group Garden and Ecology Trail Sandwick (GAETS) is applying for around £110,000 of funding to build the path, which would be around 200 metres long.
It would run from where the double track road, after the Stove crossroad ends, to the Hoswick bridge.
GAETS has submitted funding applications to national body Sustrans and the Scottish Government’s EU-led Leader programme, while it will also need to find some local funding.
Group member Juan Brown said the path would offer easier access between Hoswick and the rest of Sandwick for walkers and cyclists because the single-track road means passing can be difficult.
The issue of a lack of cycle paths in the isles was highlighted recently as cyclists opened up about the dangers of travelling on the Shetland’s roads.
“A lot of people, particularly those with kids and maybe older folk who don’t drive, when they’re walking along that road to get the bus or to get the shop or the school, they’re having to sort of be pushed into a verge whenever a car comes, so it seemed like an obvious stretch to try to get something done,” Brown said.
“Also the key thing about this as well is that there are other areas that have been identified around Sandwick and indeed probably in loads of other places around Shetland.
“This is actually being seen as a sort of a test project which could be used as an exemplar or a model to roll out further if we are successful in getting it done.”
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Brown said the group have had a “very positive” response from the community for the project following online surveys.
He added that if more path projects were rolled out then it would “make it easier for people to move around by foot and bike” and hopefully decrease car usage.
The development has gone through the planning system and it also has the go-ahead from land owners.
GAETS is a community group seeking to improve the local environment in Sandwick and promote outdoor access.
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