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Gnosall Parish Logo (Image) 

Gnosall Parish Council           

 (Including the wards of Moreton and Knightley)                                   

 

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It has been suggested by a member of the public that our old railway attracts over 100,000 journeys per year and with the expansion of Stafford to the M6 corridor we can envisage that this figure could reach in excess of 245,000 journeys annually. Although it must be stressed that these figures are unsubstantiated and include animals as well as people, if usage figures continue to rise then it would not be extreme to see 1 million journeys annually by 2030. Increase in usage along the old railway relates to the changing environment, social behaviours and of course areas expanding in size; more people means more usage. Whatever you feel the usage is along the old railway, most local people accept that it has increased annually and with various running, walking and cycling events planned for the future the popularity of our old railway continues.

This continued usage should be welcomed by our local area. More people coming through our area should attract more custom for our local businesses and support for local events. From sustainable transport sometimes comes sustainable tourism, it can be a knock on effect. So what and how should we do with this usage along our old railway? Well that’s up to those who wish to embrace the sustainable forms of transport and make the most of it. We must thank Gnosall Parish Council for trying to embrace this ethos. Our parish council has continued to support events, encourage cycling and walking, erected cycle stands in the past and more recently installed a cycle pump by the crossing on Station Road. Most of the public houses have seen or have had cyclists and walkers visiting their businesses. The First Responders in Gnosall, with assistance from the Horns pub, recently had a successful cycling event raising funds for the First Responders and attracted a large amount of cyclists. In the Past Gnosall Parish Council supported the Police when there was a “Tour De Gnosall” cycling event which attracted over a hundred cyclists. Our local school has had a “Walking bus” (Led walks to and from school) for some time encouraging the young and promote healthy activity. So the wheel has turned and the concept of more sustainable movement is expanding locally.

However, with usage of the old railway come all the associated issues like dog fouling litter and the like. It takes a dedicated team to look after our little piece of sustainable transport real estate and the landowners cannot do it all. In our local area we have the Stafford Sustrans Ranger Group. Sadly there are not many volunteer rangers. Our ranger group covers from the south of Stone in the north to Cannock Chase in the South and from Stafford central to the Staffordshire/Shropshire border (Although we work to the A41 near Newport) in the west. As a volunteer ranger you can decide which area you want to volunteer and how big that area is you wish to look after. The minimum age for volunteer rangers is 18 with no maximum age. The minimum task is to check your section of a route at least once a month, but ideally commit a little more time than that. As the saying goes “Every little helps”. If you are interested in volunteering then please contact the volunteer coordinator and volunteer ranger Paul Boston by sending an email to sustransvranger@btinternet.com or speak to the parish clerk for more information.

Hopefully in the future a presentation can be delivered outlining the work along the old railway. Thank you for any support you can give -  it is appreciated.