Project Purpose
The Ore Valley Greenway is based on a plan for a Hastings Strategic Greenway that was first conceived 11 years ago as a way of creating a radial network of cycling & walking routes from the Town Centre. The original routes have been refined and improved by subsequent research. The idea is to connect communities with schools, shops, employment areas, rail stations, parks and the town centre and sea front for sustainable (non car based) utility travel and for health and leisure activities.
One of the key links in the Greenway network runs through the Ore Valley and will be mostly off road, utilising green spaces and woodland. It is included in the draft Hastings Local Plan and the Hastings Walking & Cycling Strategy as a proposed route and, since much of the land is available and publicly owned, this is a very realistic route to construct.
There is considerable public support for this Greenway Link, which splits into two sections, the top section of which runs through Speckled Wood and up to Ore Village. The aim of this Greenway link is to create surfaced shared paths with reasonable gradients that can be used by all ages and abilities and will be accessible to wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
This partnership project is initially aimed at commissioning a detailed feasibility study with full community consultation to get the routes designed and costed in order to apply for planning permission and be able to seek funding and other ways of getting sections of the Greenway constructed.
The Routes
The primary Ore Valley Greenway route starts from Ore Station and the College Annex in Parker Road and runs through designated green space in the Lower Ore Valley up to the footbridge over the railway line at which point it divides into two sections.
One route continues alongside the railway corridor and tunnel, through green space and up to the Broomgrove Estate. A connecting section up to the Ridge and the Ivy House industrial estate is envisaged utilising mostly existing foot paths..
The other route crosses the bridge and runs along Hurrell Road and then follows the tree line above Deepdene Close to join and cross Frederick Road and enter Speckled Wood. Here it follows the stream before climbing up to Church Street and running along this gently rising track to Victoria Avenue and Ore Village.
A further section of route is shown in the Local Plan to connect to Rye Road and the Hastings Academy, utilising shared footpaths and marked cycle lanes.
[button title=”Download Ore Valley Greenway Route” url=”https://www.orecommunitylandtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/9beb5-ore-valley-greenway-route-plan-v3.jpg” color=”green”]
Future Greenway Connections
The draft Local Plan and the Walking & Cycling Strategy identifies a connecting route that runs on railway track side land to the Queens Road railway bridge and on to the Station Plaza and the Town Centre. It joins up with the other main section of the network that runs through Alexandra Park to Silverhill and Hollington, and another branch to the Conquest hospital. In the longer term this will enable residents in North East Hastings to travel on foot, by bike or using mobility aids to the Town Centre, Alexandra Park, Silverhill and many other parts of the Borough by direct, safe and almost entirely off-road routes.
Benefits
– Sustainable Travel and Access to Woodland and Green Spaces for Utility, Leisure, Health and Well-Being
– The Ore Valley Greenway will create a very valuable community amenity in its own right for Ore Valley, Ore Village and a wider area, which will be further enhanced when it is connected to the Hastings Greenway, or Cycle and Walking Routes, Network.
– It will provide a well marked and easy to use direct route for all ages and abilities to link Ore Village and the communities around Ore Valley with Ore Station, the College Annex in Parker Road, the Ivy House industrial estate and with local schools and shops.
– It will finally provide the much needed connectivity through Ore Valley, which was envisaged in the abandoned Millennium Regeneration Plan.
– It will make travel on foot, by cycle or mobility scooter very much easier, safer and pleasant as the routes will run through attractive green spaces.
– It will make cycling much safer and is certain to encourage more people to travel by environmentally friendly and healthy means and be able to get to a main line train station quickly to enhance the use of sustainable travel options.
– It will provide off road access to schools and educational facilities and encourage pupils and students to travel safely to school and college by bike.
– It will benefit the local economy by improving travel options for work and will save travel costs and help people on low incomes
– It will address the recognised need to encourage more people to take up activities to promote health and fitness and is certain to result in many people making journeys on foot and others, who would not be prepared to cycle on the difficult and dangerous road system in the area, returning to or taking up cycling.
– It will provide a number of very usable and attractive routes for people with disabilities to enable them to reach quiet woodland areas, such as the centre of Speckled Wood, and open spaces that are currently quite inaccessible.
– It will be of particular benefit to residents living in a number of social housing estates in the Ore Valley area, which is one of the most deprived parts of Hastings.
– It will is a very environmentally friendly Project that make an important contribution to reducing car use and to the Hastings Carbon Reduction Strategy.