Project:WRT

Project Title: 

Walk Ride and Thrive (WRT)

Updated: 03 February 2021

Project Aims:

  • Develop travel plans for Hartford Parish Council (HPC);  short-term and long-term.
    • Develop solutions to provide access to the parish in line with Government initiatives “WRT”
    • Where possible meet “Covid-19”  emergency requirements to allow people to maintain a social distance when walking.
    • Make the parish a safer place for residents and visitors to walk and cycle.
    • All age groups need to be included, young and elderly.

Project Team:

  • Councillors:

    • George Garbett,  Jane Taylor, Robin Hunter, Tom Dickerson.

    Hartford Civic Society:

    • John Szostek,

    Hartford Cycle Hub:

    • Derek Heine,  (He  has replaced  David Cooney who has recently died)

    Hartford Life:

    • Chris Poole

Project Location:

  • Hartford Parish

    • Parish wide initiative

Project information:

Project Slides
CWAC strategy
Gov. Investment Strategy
Gov. Safety review: call for evidence

Project Details:

Barriers to progress:

    • A change in  “hearts and minds”  will be required  both locally and at a national level for the project to be successful. 
    • This is a major change, which will cost money and can not happen overnight. Some of the solutions will require large budgets & planning.
    • Short-term temporary solutions may be needed to improve areas of concern in order to improve the situation but this is unlikely to meet our long term aims.
    • Developing the plan of where we want to be is only the start.
    • If a plan is accepted finding the budget to implement is seen as a major barrier given the current climate. 
    • Some changes may need to wait until the location is being uplifted. The key thing is to have the plan of what we would like to have once the uplift is done. 

Project Progress: 

Key activity’s:

Start Date: June 2020

Estimated completion date: December 2021

Status: Ongoing

Village survey:

  • July 2020

A survey has been carried out.

  • Problem areas identified 
  • Cycle routes and walkways identified

Present Findings:

  • July 2020

Finding of the survey presented to the HPC and accepted.  

Power point produced, details of areas to be addressed, solution’s proposed.

PowerPoint  sent to CWAC:

  • July 2020

PowerPoint submitted to CWAC for comment and discussion along with a temp request to reduce the speed limits on key road in the parish to 20MPH in order to reduce the risk of predestines being hit if they step into the carriageway in order to maintain social distancing.    

Letter sent to residents:

  • Aug 2020

Letter requesting residents check hedges that boarder a public footpath are cut back to allow full use of the path by pedestrians 

Meeting with CWAC Highways:

  • Dec 2020

Meeting held with Sean Traynor CWAC highways and Cllrs. George Garbett and Jane Taylor.

Good progress made, project can start to move forward again 

Workgroup meeting :

  • Feb 2021

Virtual Workgroup Meeting held on the 2nd Feb 

New Team Member, Chris Poole welcomed to the team, He will bring his expertise with mapping to the group along with his experience in many other areas. 

The group agreed a number of next steps now we have a link in CWAC to discuss options