August 23, 2023
Nottingham City Council has completed major improvements to footpaths at Colwick Country Park.
The project, paid for through funding secured from the Transforming Cities and European Regional Development Funds, began in September 2022 and finished ahead of schedule in mid-August 2023.
Colwick Country Park is one of Nottingham’s most beautiful and popular parks, with its large lake, woodland, marina and wildlife areas and is now more accessible than ever.
The popular walk around the lake became extremely muddy at times particularly during the winter months, making it difficult for park users, including Colwick parkrunners, and impossible for those using pushchairs, wheelchairs or bikes.
It was planned that the project could add 1.5km of paved footpaths, improving access and use of the park for wheelchair users, pushchair users and cyclists, but Nottingham City Council have now completed over 4.5k of footpaths using the funding, after seeing the impact and positive feedback that resulted.
The new paths are 3 metres wide, giving enough room for cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users and pushchair users to enjoy the park.
Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Transport and Planning, Councillor Angela Kandola, said: “It’s great to see these new footpaths completed, which have made one of our most beautiful and popular parks even easier to visit for everyone – as well as connecting to the new pedestrian and cyclists bridge over the Trent, which is due to be completed in 2025.”
“Thank you to park users for their patience while we carried out these works.”
The Colwick parkrun core team said: “With the exception of one cancellation on 29th October 2022 the path works team have worked tirelessly to make sure that we could proceed safely every week during the improvements and kept us informed every step of the way.
“In addition to path works they also created our wonderful parkrun lay-by, sited our bike rack and benches, improved the toilet area, and filled in the potholes to name but a few things. Many ‘personal bests’ have ensued since and participation numbers have been up as the mud and puddle levels have gone down.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with them, Nottingham City Council and the park management team to see this to fruition, thank you.”
