Marple’s access onto the Middlewood Way (NCN55) has been given a long-fought-for redesign to modern, inclusive standards. Yes, those ugly, discriminatory a-frame barriers are gone, gone, gone in a great win for accessibility.
It’s not a hallucination. The Middlewood Way at Marple now has inclusively-spaced bollards where, for the previous 40 years of this railway trail’s lifetime, nasty narrow barriers will have come in the way of many legitimate users.
First to be replaced was the access at Rose Hill railway station, right at the start of the old Marple to Macclesfield line, with the entire ugly set-up of metal a-frame, horse stile and gate cleanly replaced with two simple bollards.
For years the old barriers had been bypassed by a rough, bumpy trail over the verge beside it, making them utterly pointless.
Approved by councillors last year, we knew the work was coming but nobody could say when, so the new bollards caught me by (quite sadly overexcited) surprise last Wednesday.
By Thursday the other end of this section at Wood Lane had been given a similar tweak. A-frame and horse stile gone, one simple bollard in place. That easy.
An extra bonus here is that path users (perhaps heading to work on the train in good shoes) can finally avoid most of the puddle that always formed in the mouth of the old barrier. Using many types of wheeled devices which were previously blocked, the well-surfaced path is now actually accessible full stop.
By Friday the next barrier on the other side of Wood Lane was gone — and that’s the big one, giving access to 7 whole miles of cycling and wheeling south to Bollington. Probably unnoticed by most path users but a significant moment in the history of Middlewood Way and the area’s traffic free network.
The Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council scheme approved by Marple Area councillors also includes amendments to the two access points either side of the A6 near High Lane.
Both the A-frame and the ancient wooden barrier (that one possibly dating from the 1980s), will be removed. The access win here is minimal, though, as the former leads to a stepped ramp and the latter a slippy cobbled ramp.
Perhaps the wooden barrier, which requires someone to dismount and awkwardly pass their bike around underneath, should’ve instead been preserved as a museum piece to show how far we’ve come. It’s remarkable it lasted so long without someone sawing it in two.
It won’t all be plain-rolling to the agreed standard of 1.5 metres on the trail, however. Access either side of the Oakfield Farm crossing near Threaphurst Lane won’t be redesigned, where openings are a less restrictive 1-1.1 metres.
This is a bit disappointing for safety as much as accessibility: the current pinch point pushes users to one side, almost completely restricting the view of the lane which does see drivers whizzing across (and with one side having unhelpfully had a solid fence erected). It would still be good to see this redesigned, so path users can approach in the middle.
Elsewhere down in Cheshire East, there’s an awkward double squeeze before Bollington Viaduct, designed I think purely to dissuade horse riders from continuing where they’re not allowed to cross the viaduct. (Surely a sign would work?) And I can’t not mention the awful zig-zag ramps south of there. It was Cheshire East and their involvement with Sustrans which set this ball rolling though, amending some of their access points over two years ago, so well done to them. Let’s hope they see it through to open up the whole 10 miles.
For Stockport it has been a long journey from their botched Access Control Policy of 2022. The determined work of Walk Ride GM and their Walk Ride Stockport arm helped to eventually get something more acceptable set out, but still two years later nothing had happened. The council was supposedly, for years and years, just making a prioritisation list. (Many authorities have adjusted barriers to off-road paths without any need for such processes, instead just following national guidance and getting on with the work.)
• Wheels for Wellbeing has a useful Guide to Inclusive Cycling
As recently as late May 2024, I wrote to all local councillors, the council leaders, active travel division and Sustrans (being that this is National Cycle Network Route 55), asking again that they now provide equal access to the route for all legitimate users, but was told that nothing was in progress.
Trying to push for a quick win, I based this request on the ease in this case of simply removing the wooden horse stile blocks, as authorities have done in some other areas, as an interim measure to create a wider opening. Yet still Stockport Council said unequivocally:
“There are currently no proposals for works to remove the barriers on Middlewood Way. We are in the process of pulling together information on access barrier locations, with a view to undertaking some prioritisation on barriers suitable for removal. This should hopefully help provide an evidence-led approach to barrier removal into the future.”
Sustrans’ representative seemed equally frustrated, stating their “understanding is that while Stockport does have a policy for redesigning access controls, the appetite to follow through is inconsistent, shall we say.” Hah! Along with the refreshing honesty, they promised to “note this section of the Middlewood Way in particular as somewhere that the local community has issues with” and to continue pushing for change.
Prodding the council further, I was abruptly told the only real way to influence things would be via local councillors. Well then. As luck would have it, by August one was on-side enough to tell me they’d asked for their immediate removal and, given it was a fairly simple job (to remove the horse stile blocks), they’d even offered to do it themselves!
Just a month later in September 2024, plans were suddenly produced, a decision made and budget allocated for not just an interim solution but this comprehensive modernisation. Quite some turn around.
Thanks then to councillors Steve Gribbon and Geoff Abell for seeing this through, and every individual who has ever challenged these or any barriers helping us get to this point.
The redesign is fantastic, simple and effective, and Stockport Council and officers who worked on this deserve praise for a job well done. Hopefully now they will have a good case study to carry forward quickly with other barrier redesigns, notably on the many awful Trans Pennine Trail access points. There must be no more needlessly drawing out what should be a very simple process of removing discrimination in their transport infrastructure.
For all the years of fighting, these four new bollards prove it has been this easy for them all along.
• Find a complete, free guide to the Middlewood Way and other traffic-free cycle trails here.
• Fancy supporting my work on Peaks & Puddles with a coffee? You can also help keep the website here and get access to extra stuff by becoming a Plus member for a one-off contribution. Subscribing below also really helps — you’ll just get a quick email any time there’s a new post and yes there are a few more good little wins like this to come!
Buy me a coffee