Proposal by Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign) for a “RoSChet” Foot-Cycle Bridge over the River Trent on the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire border
and see update of 28 July 2025:-
RoSChetTriCountyFtCycBridgeMeetingUpdate280725
Proposal for a Tri-County foot-cycle bridge across the River Trent between the Ratcliffe-on Soar former Power Station Regeneration Site and East Midlands Parkway Station, Fairham Pastures Housing Development etc. on the south bank to connect, on the north bank, with the Long Eaton-Toton-Chilwell-Beeston Area including the Toton-Chetwynd Barracks Regeneration Site, for further investigation and taking forward by the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA)
Update of 8.10.25:- Recent developments
- Uniper, owners of the former RoS Power Station site, favour a ped & cycle crossing of the Trent nearby, as do the Canal & River Trust
- Dr Dawn Rahman (ITP / by Haskoning Transport Planning Consultancy, responsible for the Transport Strategy for the former Power Station site, for Uniper & Rushcliffe Borough Council), is having meetings in October with EMCCA Senior Transport Staff & also James Hatchett & Edward Healey of the Walk Wheel and Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans) to discuss the next steps
EMCCA & WWC Trust to discuss next steps
- widening interest and support, including from cycling groups in Leicestershire, extending the support in principle from other groups in Notts and Derbs, especially the Derby Cycling Group & Notts Ramblers
See below for more information on the proposal, as submitted in April 2025 to Alan Simpson, the Sustainable Travel Ambassador for the East Midlands Combined County Authority:-
The former Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station site, the Midland Main Line railway bridge over the River Trent and the former Chetwynd Barracks site at Toton, Nottinghamshire
Overview Map of the area including the 2 Major Regeneration sites and the Midland main line railway bridge over the River Trent north of Red Hill and East Midlands Parkway Station and south of Long Eaton. The Fairham Pastures major housing development site lies south of Remembrance Way (A453) between Barton-in-Fabis, Clifton and Gotham on the right hand side of this map.
With the development of major regeneration cum employment site plans on both sides of the Trent, at the 265 hectare former Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station site in Rushcliffe Borough, and at the 266 hectare Toton and Chetwynd Barracks site in Chilwell in Broxtowe Borough in Nottinghamshire, as well as a series of new housing proposals nearby on both sides of the river, there is great potential for developing a case for a new foot-cycle bridge connecting both those sites, and others nearby in the Toton / Chilwell area of Broxtowe, as well as Long Eaton in Erewash Borough (Derbyshire) and East Midlands Parkway Station and Fairham Pastures (south of Clifton and north of Gotham), etc. in Rushcliffe, etc. Fairham Pastures will provide 3000 homes and 20 hectares of employment land.
A new bridge at the location we are proposing would make it easier for people in these major housing developments to the north and south of the Trent to have safe and convenient access to job opportunities on the other side of the river, as well as opening up many new and much more convenient and attractive leisure cycling and walking opportunities such as the Attenborough Nature Reserve, and paths along the River Trent and Erewash Valleys, as well as the River Soar Trail in Leicestershire. The Spring Lake Watersports and Leisure Centre south of Long Eaton and close to the north bank of the Trent east of Cranfleet Lock would also benefit from much improved cycling and walking access, as would other nearby water-based leisure facilities.
To make such (cross-river) trips on foot or by bike is now very much discouraged by the lack of any crossing point between Clifton Bridge in Nottingham and Sawley Bridge, west of Sawley Marina and south of Long Eaton.
Not only would a new bridge offer a much safer and attractive facility for cyclists, walkers and wheelers, for both commuting / utility and leisure trips, but it would also be consistent both with National (DfT) policies, as set out in the DfT “Gear Change” Report in 2020, and, at regional level, with the Emerging Principles of the Transport Strategy of the Draft Local Transport Plan of the East Midlands Combined County Authority. These include “Increased modal choice”, “Better connected communities and greater economic opportunities” and “Cross boundary links” in the Emerging Vision, and the Emerging Strategic Goals of “Active, healthy and vibrant places” and “Connected communities and new homes”.
This proposed “Trans-County” Major Active Travel Project also directly reflects many of the Emerging LTP Policies including:-
- Create transformative cycling, walking and wheeling networks
- Integrated active modes into our wider transport networks
- Support people to use active modes with training and information
- Improve ease of switching between modes of transport
- Focus new development in well-connected areas
- Better connect communities by active and sustainable modes
- Working collaboratively to prioritise investment on strategic growth corridors
- Prioritise investment to connect people to employment and training opportunities and enable growth
- Support the protection and enjoyment of our environments
- Reducing the negative impact of transport and travel on the environment
The Proposal also reflects some important EMCCA Inclusive Growth Objectives including:-
- Having a healthier, more work-ready population
- Ensuring more residents and visitors can experience a vibrant natural environment
- Increasing the pace of our economy’s journey towards Net Zero
The Ratcliffe Power Station Strategic Site is to be developed for Employment development, including strategic distribution, for the purposes of delivering an industrial park focusing on advanced manufacturing (including technology needed to transition to net-zero), green and low carbon energy generation and energy storage.
The Toton and Chetwynd Barracks Strategic Site is allocated for mixed use development, including 4800 dwellings, at least 3200 square metres of business and industrial floor space, two local centres, community facilities and at least 16 hectares of open space. Both Homes England and the Ministry of Defence are the main agencies responsible for the housing developments, in cooperation with Nottinghamshire County Council and Broxtowe Borough Council.
In the case of both these Major Regeneration sites there are clearly stated requirements for appropriate walking and cycling facilities through and beyond the sites (stated for example in Policies 21 and 31 of the revised Draft Greater Nottingham Spatial Plan, March 2025), so the proposals in this prospectus should very much be seen in that wider context, and developed further by the East Midlands Combined County Authority in close consultation with all the relevant organisations, including Local Councils, National Highways, the Environment Agency, the Canal and River Trust, the Trent River Trust, Active Travel England and Sustrans, as well as local User Groups and other interested bodies. The same (Draft Spatial Plan) document also makes clear the requirements for the Implementation of a Sustainable Transport Strategy, a Site Wide Travel Plan and Plot Specific Travel Plans for both Major Regeneration sites.
Other than the railway bridge north of Red Hill Tunnel there is currently no bridge across the Trent between Clifton Bridge in Nottingham and the Sawley Bridge (B6540) south of Long Eaton (and west of Sawley Marina) and this road crossing, close to the county boundaries of Derbyshire and Leicestershire, with no cycle facilities, is very busy and intimidating for most cyclists, as well as being indirect for many local trips. The proposed new foot-cycle bridge, for which the case is argued in this prospectus, would not only be traffic-free and so much safer, but also much more direct and convenient, especially when linked coherently to other improved and new connections on both banks of the Trent and more widely, e.g. the proposed major new employment and housing development in the vicinity of East Midlands Airport such as in the Diseworth and Isley Walton areas to the south-west, in Leicestershire. Together with other improved Active Travel routes such a bridge would also help to improve connections with many existing communities and employment sites in the area, as well as with many leisure destinations.
We propose that a new foot-cycle bridge in the vicinity of the railway bridge over the Trent north of Red Hill Tunnel and East Midlands Parkway Station has in principle the greatest strategic potential of any new such crossing between Clifton Bridge (Nottingham) and the Long Eaton-Trent Lock area but recognise that this will need further detailed investigation of the possible option for exact siting of the new bridge and its main connections on both banks of the river, to help maximise the potential for the bridge to develop a more coherent and comprehensive series of routes in the vicinity.
Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan Publication Draft, March 2025: Policy 32: Strategic Allocation: Former Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station (Rushcliffe), p234-241
Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan Publication Draft, March 2025: Policy 21: Strategic Allocation: Toton and Chetwynd Barracks (Broxtowe), p161-172
The proposed new foot-cycle bridge across the River Trent between these major developments would also provide a much safer and attractive Active Travel crossing in than now exists, e.g on the very busy B6540, west of Sawley Marina (south of Long Eaton), as well as helping to connect many national, regional and local walking and cycling routes. This would be one particularly important advantage of the proposed bridge, and could also help to improve east-west links, along the River Trent west of Trent Lock and to and from Shardlow and the Longhorse Bridge, east of Shardlow and close to the mouth of the River Derwent and its confluence with the Trent.
The very busy B6540, west of Sawley Marina (south of Long Eaton), is currently the only route across the River Trent in this area and is very intimidating for most cyclists. A new foot-cycle bridge east of Trent Lock, in the vicinity of the Midland Mainline Railway bridge would be a much safer, more direct and attractive Active Travel route across the river. There is no other crossing on this part of the Trent west of Clifton Bridge, Nottingham. Much safer and more coherent east-west Active Travel routes are also needed at this point.
The potential connecting routes for the proposed new bridge include Sustrans National Cycle Network Routes 6, 67 and 15, the Trent Valley Way, both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire arms of the Erewash Trail, and the River Soar Trail through Leicestershire, which runs south from Redhill Marina, East Midlands Parkway Station and Kegworth, etc., as well as many local paths.
Sustrans National Cycle Network Routes in the vicinity including Routes 6 and 67 north of the Trent and Route 15 to the south. Route 67 includes the Erewash Canal towpath between Long Eaton and Ilkeston etc. and is also part of the Derbyshire Arm of the Erewash Valley Trail, opened in 2009, and a joint project between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire County Councils, Erewash and Broxtowe Borough Councils, and the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts. The historic Bennerley Viaduct, reopened in 2022 as a walking and cycling route now forms an additional short-cut link between the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire arms of the EVT, between Trent Lock and Langley Mill. Both “arms” of the EVT total 48km in length.
The existing shared path by the approach road to East Midlands Parkway Station, part of a cycle route alongside the A453, located just across the railway from the former Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station site, visible on the right of this picture, and looking north towards Redhill Marina, Red Hill Rail Tunnel, and Trent Lock, south of Long Eaton. EMP Station lies close to the major new housing development being built at Fairham Pastures, between Clifton (Nottingham) and Gotham (Rushcliffe) and will also need improved Active Travel links between the two sites, connecting in turn to the wider network in the West Bridgford and Nottingham urban areas, including Sustrans NCN Route 15 and the Trent Valley Way, as well as to other routes in nearby Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
To take this further the project now needs detailed investigation of the feasibility of several exact sites, and connections on both banks, including, north of the river, improved links not just to the riverside path and canalside path near Cranfleet Lock, but to and from Toton / Chilwell / Attenborough, as well as all of the Long Eaton area, etc., and to the Sustrans NCN routes, etc.
Initial investigation suggests that such a new bridge over the Trent should best be located a little to the west or east of the existing Midland Main Line Railway Bridge to the north of Red Hill Tunnel and East Midlands Parkway Station, which lies immediately west of the former Power Station site. This could be accessed in one of two ways: –
- By repurposing the tunnel under Red Hill, on the east side of the Midland Mainline railway bridge, which was used by the former Power Station to draw water from the Trent
- via an extension of the quiet road to and from Redhill Marina and the public footpath in that area. The Redhill Marina Lock lies about 500 metres south of Trent Lock and the confluence of the Rivers Soar and Trent. Redhill Marina also marks the northern end of the 63km River Soar Trail through the heart of Leicestershire, with a short section in Nottinghamshire between Redhill Marina and Kegworth
View from Cranfleet Lock looking towards the Midland Main Line railway bridge over the Trent north of Red Hill Tunnel and East Midlands Parkway Station, and
towards Trent Lock, opposite the confluence of the Trent and the River Soar north of the Redhill Marina and the boundaries of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire
To the north of the Trent a smaller bridge would be needed to cross the Cranfleet Canal at some point between the MML Railway Bridge and Cranfleet Lock. Although the medium- and long-term aim should be to have a series of dedicated traffic-free routes on both sides of the river, in the shorter term some quieter roads and paths could be used as access routes, e.g .the Trent Sailing Club access road, Trent Lane, Pasture Lane south of Long Eaton, and, in turn, with some upgrading, the connecting paths south of the railway to and from the level crossing to the north of the Attenborough Wildlife Centre, etc.
To help maximise the potential of this new bridge, for both commuting / utility and leisure purposes, it would be very advantageous also to connect the north bank landing to a revised version of the former plans for a “Cycle Superhighway” between Nottingham and Derby, via the A6005 and Sustrans NCN Route 6 “Corridors’, and connecting Beeston, Chilwell, Toton and Long Eaton, etc.
Funding for this scheme was obtained in 2020 by Nottingham City Council as one of a series of projects (including the Waterside Foot-Cycle Bridge now being built over the Trent on the east side of Nottingham) to be supported by the Tranche 2 of the DfT’s Transforming Cities Fund. In the case it was agreed that implementation should largely be the responsibility of Nottinghamshire County Council, who then carried out detailed consultation in their proposals for the section in Nottinghamshire between Toton and the Broxtowe / City boundary east of Long Eaton. However, they subsequently abandoned the proposals, in 2023, on the grounds that costs and had greatly increased and so the proposals no longer represented value for money. The need for such a strategic route however remains very strong, especially as there have been no new cycle schemes built in the south of Broxtowe since the completion of the tramside paths along the NET extension route to Chilwell and Toton opened in 2015.
Progressing this ambitious Active Travel proposal, in coordinated phases, would have to involve many local Councils, not just in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, but also in Leicestershire. However, the challenge of doing this should now be greatly assisted by the advent of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, and the Mayor’s recently appointed Sustainable Travel Ambassador to help emphasise the Mayor’s strong commitment to Active Travel, supported by other relevant organisations, especially Active Travel England and Sustrans, to ensure the implementation of several new and improved connections on both sides of the Trent.
The support of other organisations, especially the Environment Agency, the Canal and River Trust and the Trent River Trust, would also be very important, to help ensure that such a project forms an integral part of the plans for these major Regeneration site and their various improved and extended Active Travel connections including, as mentioned above, a revival of the plans proposed in 2019-2023 for the “Cycle Superhighway” between Nottingham and Derby, following approximately the alignment of the A6005 and Sustrans NCN Route 6.
Appendix: Examples of inspiring examples of foot-cycle bridges elsewhere include: –
- The Waterside foot-cycle bridge over the Trent on the east side of Nottingham (under construction since February 2025 and due for completion in June 2026):
https://www.transportnottingham.com/project/pedestrian-and-cycle-bridge/
- Dafne Schippersbrug, Utrecht, (foot-cycle bridge over the Amsterdam-Rijnkanal), Netherlands
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafne_Schippersbrug
https://www.nextarchitects.com/nl/dafne-schippersbrug/
Hugh McClintock,
for Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign)
Email: Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com
7 April 2025