Guild Wheel users urged to take protest to councils

Guild Wheel lovers are being urged to bombard councillors with demands to protect Preston's 21-mile greenway from over-building.
The Guild WheelThe Guild Wheel
The Guild Wheel

A petition aimed at halting one housing scheme in Broughton has already topped 10,000 signatures.

Now organisers of the Save Our Guild Wheel Campaign are asking thousands more to join the protest by putting pressure on both city and county councillors to call a halt to residential development on the orbital route around the city.

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The campaigners claim eight new road junctions are planned on the Guild Wheel, raising safety concerns for its 100,000 annual users.

And they say some of the developments fly in the face of a national demand for more segregated cycle tracks and a growing call for more people to take up cycling or walking.

“The award winning Guild Wheel is a very valuable, public infrastructure asset,” says a SOGWC statement.

“If the eight planned dangerous junctions are build this will ruin, not enhance, this free community asset.

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“Time is running out. But it is not too late if urgent action is now taken by the two local councils to protect it.”

The route’s co-founder, Peter Ward, launched a passionate appeal to the city’s planning committee in December to reject a scheme for 112 homes off D’Urton Lane, Broughton – considered the most dangerous stretch of the Guild Wheel as riders and walkers come into conflict with motorists. But his plea was ignored.

The campaigners have now decided to crank up the pressure on the county and city councils by urging supporters to write letters of protest.

To add your name to the petition go to Change.org and click on Save Our Guild Wheel Campaign.

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