It is not only wheelchair users who lose out when walks are inaccessible, but their families too, says a disability campaigner.
Bryan Harrison of Hawarden, a member of Flintshire Local Access Forum, loves walking, but often finds footpaths are not suitable for wife Marion, who has been a wheelchair user for the last 15 years.
But thanks to a scheme funded by the rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd, Mold is now closer to having a true circular walk which is wheelchair and pushchair friendly, around the beautiful River Alyn. It should also prove a bonus for visitors to the town.
“We’ve been down to see the improvements and try them out and make sure they’re safe – and they’re excellent,” said Bryan.
“It’s important that wheelchair users can go where so-called ‘normal’ people go because it’s not only the wheelchair user who loses out when they cannot go on a beautiful walk, it’s their families as well.
“Behind every wheelchair user there is usually a whole family, and they are all affected,” said Bryan, whose wife Marion was a nurse and theatre sister who re-trained as a teacher but retired in 1998 due to ill health.
She is a tireless voluntary worker and founder member of such organisations as East Flintshire Access Group and Flintshire Disability Forum. She has even found time to represent Wales in wheelchair curling.
The total cost of the project financed by rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd, was £18,000, from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) through the Welsh Assembly Government’s Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 and is part of a three-year plan to revitalise rural communities and their economies in the county, plus a further £5,000 of match funding from Flintshire Community Trust, with the work carried out by Wright Landscapes Ltd.
Cadwyn’s Flintshire footpaths officer Sarah Jane Jones said: “Synthite were very helpful in giving us permission to carry out work on the path near the factory. We now have a disability access gate on the path leading to the Drovers so that you can enjoy a walk down to the river where there is a turning point and a bench and wonderful views.
“On the Leadmills side there is no disability access because of the steps at the stone footbridge by the rugby club and the kissing gates but the plan is to make it the official right of way. At the moment the other side of the river is the right of way but it goes through gardens and is not very useable.
“Since the county council own the improved land and lease it to the rugby club there was little problem in gaining landowner permission for the works. .
“These improvements linked together help make a full loop of the river and a decent walk. Speaking to Mold Tourist Information and to Howard it’s obvious there are very few walks in Mold which visitors can be directed to, so this should help.”
The need for improvements to the riverside footpaths was highlighted to Cadwyn Clwyd by Howard White of the Ramblers’ Association. He said: “There are two elements to it. By the Bridge Inn and Rugby pitch on the county side a gravel path from the car park goes south down the true left bank of the River Alyn to the existing footbridge.
“It leads to the back of the rugby club and the old Kwik Save and along a path to the back of the Old Queen’s Head pub. The gravel path now links up with the riverside walk.
“The second section is from the Synthite works on Denbigh road, opposite the Drover’s Arms there is a footpath which links to the railway footpath, that section I got a grant for last year.
“About 300 yards of that is now a gravel, all-ability path, linking up with the old railway line which we had done last year with money from the Bovril Fund.”
The walks are already well used by dog walkers, but the riverside is an area which Mold could exploit more, said Mr White and the new improvements have opened up sections to wheelchair users and mothers with pushchairs.
For the future Mr White hopes to present evidence of use to Flintshire which could claim the stepping stones in the river at the back of Synthite as a public right of way so that they can be improved and perhaps even replaced with a footbridge.
Cllr Matt Wright, Flintshire Executive member for Regeneration and Tourism, said: “I think this was an excellent project which is going to give wider access to the community particularly the disabled and is part of our endeavour to have more circular routes and give the people of Mold the chance to take advantage of the lovely countryside.”
Anyone interested in Cadwyn Clwyd’s Flintshire Footpaths Project can contact Sarah Jones on 01824 705802 or e-mail [email protected]
