Footpaths & Walks
Updates on works
BB19 Improvement Project starting soon
BB45 Extension Brooks Close
Brooks Close to Foreland Farm Lane footpath
Works to improve the Brooks Close to Foreland Farm Lane footpath took place on 15th and 16th May 2017. IW Rights of Way worked with the landowner to have the footpath officially dedicated, and Aaron Rogers Gardening Services with the Parish Lengthsmen carried out the re-surfacing works.
BB10 – complete
Part one of the works on the BB10 footpath by Sandhills is now complete. In partnership with the IW Rights of Way, Aaron Rogers Gardening Services and the parish lengthsmen started work on Monday 19th September and completed by Wednesday. Part two of the project was completed in March 2017 by the same team. Well done to all those involved.
BB21 Footpath – Bembridge section complete
The BB21 Footpath Project clearance is complete, well done to Aaron Rogers Garden Services and the parish lengthsmen.
BB21 Footpath Project
Down to the Coast is an ambitious 5 year, £2.5m landscape conservation scheme focussed on the eastern end of the Isle of Wight. Led by the Isle of Wight AONB Partnership and funded principally by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Down to the Coast will take an holistic approach to the needs of the local area and its communities through the delivery of 16 cross-cutting projects. These will support people to gain new skills and participate in activity to conserve and enhance the overall quality of the local landscape and improve the health and well-being of the communities for who it is a place to live, work and play.
Down to the Coast will be coordinated by a small, dedicated team and delivered by a range of organisations including conservation charities, national agencies and local interest groups which have come together under the banner of the East Wight Landscape Partnership.
Programmes
The scheme’s 16 projects are grouped into four themed programmes of work:
Programme A – Source to Sea (Conserve and Restore)
Programme B – Caulkhead Heroes (Community Participation)
Programme C – Pretty as a Picture (Access and Learning)
Programme D – Growing with the Landscape (Training and Skills)
Project C4: Meanders and Reflections
Lead: Natural Enterprise / IW Ramblers
This project will increase public access to and understanding of the Eastern Yar and its tributaries. Improvements to existing Rights of Way will ease access at St Helens Duver and on the Yar River Trail at Brading which, links and provides access to the RSPB’s Brading Marsh Reserve and National Trust’s Grade 1 listed Bembridge Windmill. New marked trails using existing footpaths will also be created alongside the Wroxall Stream and Scotchells Brook. New interpretation will complement the works providing a new opportunity for audiences to learn about and enjoy the natural and cultural heritage of the watercourses across the Down to the Coast landscape.
An access feasibility audit of riverside paths in the Down to the Coast landscape undertaken by the Isle of Wight Ramblers during the development phase identified a section of the route across Brading Marsh between Quay Street Brading and Bembridge Windmill that would benefit from improvement. This section is located primarily on the top of the old quay wall that was constructed in the 18th century to enable drainage of the marshes. The public right of way is in need of surface improvements and clearance which would effectively facilitate its use by a wider audience and at the same time enable work to be carried out to create better views of the marsh and its wildlife. Increased interpretation would be possible and re-alignment of the path back onto to the top of the sea wall would enable better preservation of the historic wall structure itself. Clearance of increasing undergrowth and scrub would also be of benefit and is required before ground improvements. It is anticipated that minor repairs to the sea wall could be identified and carried out at a later stage in the Down to the Coast programme via the Project A3: landscape Improvement Grants.
A photographic/walk-through survey with GPS has identified the work sections where the re-alignment and surface improvements would be carried out by a contractor. Discussions and walk-throughs with the Rights of Way section of the IW Council have confirmed the width (1.5 metres), methodology and construction material (crushed chalk) the contractor would need to work to. A specification has been drawn up and the ROW team leader is to take each of three contractors on a site visit with a view to submitting a quotation. It is anticipated that gates will replace stiles (at eastern end of trail), subject to landowner approval.
The clearance is to be undertaken by a volunteer team drawn from a range of community volunteers who have knowledge of working in the countryside. These are The Ramblers work team, Spectrum Green Army (Spectrum are partners in EWLP), Green Gym, Bembridge Parish Lengthsmen and RSPB (owners of Brading Marsh). There will be opportunities for on the job training in equipment use where appropriate.
The clearance works at Bembridge Windmill end will commence in January and be complete by 1st March before the nesting season. This will be done by Arron Rogers Gardening Services, Bembridge Parish Lengthsmen and volunteers to enable the contactor to commence works on the footpath thereafter (all subject to the necessary consents).
£1,000 contribution is requested from the Parish Council and £2,000 from EWLP to pay for clearing of the vegetation at the Bembridge end to ensure it is complete in time.
WALKS
Walk 1 – Bembridge Village Stroll click here
Walk 2 – Brading Marsh Trek click here
Walk 3 – Longlands Farm Trek click here
Walk 4 – Bembridge Fort Climb click here
Walk 5 – Yarbridge Stomp click here
Walk 6 – Seaview Stroll click here