Update of 24 November 2025:
Public Inquiry Report setback and a possible new approach
Last week we had the news of the great setback of the recent A52 Public Inquiry decision on our very longstanding case for the upgrading of the subway-underpass under the A52 south of Sharp Hill as an integral part of their plans for the major changes to the two nearby big roundabouts (A52/A606 and A52/A60).
Steve Parkhouse of the Ramblers and Hugh McClintock from Pedals are now trying to get the help of Alan Simpson in his role as EMCCA Sustainable Travel Ambassador to put pressure on the County Council to come to the rescue by using the path Creation Order powers.
Below is the evidence presented to the Public Inquiry on 8 July 2025:-
THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS (A52 NOTTINGHAM JUNCTIONS, NOTTINGHAM KNIGHT JUNCTION AND WHEATCROFT JUNCTION IMPROVEMENT) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2024
THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS (A52 NOTTINGHAM JUNCTIONS, NOTTINGHAM, KNIGHT JUNCTION AND WHEATCROFT JUNCTION IMPROVEMENT) (SIDE ROADS) ORDER 2024
Public Local Inquiries, July 2025:
Proof of Evidence from Hugh McClintock on behalf of Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign) in support of the A52 Active Travel Partnership Proof of Evidence submitted by Steve Parkhouse of The Ramblers
Summary
Pedals main interest, in endorsing the general objections of the A52 Active Travel Partnership to the failure of National Highways to include the subway-underpass under the A52 between Landmere Lane and Sharp Hill in the land to be acquired for Compulsory Purchase in the wider scheme, is the vital need to establish this route as a public bridleway, for legal use by cyclists and horseriders as well as walkers. We are, furthermore, keen to emphasise the need for this in turn to become the centrepiece of a series of coherent new and improved Active Travel routes covering the whole Sharp Hill / Edwalton Fields / Melton Road (Edwalton) area, extending from Boundary Road (including Rushcliffe Spencer Academy) to the north and, to the south, Ruddington village, with its many new housing developments, and the very popular Rushcliffe Country Park. This often suffers from acute car parking pressures and so needs much improved cycling access, to help encourage journeys to and from the site by non-motorised means, especially for people making shorter trips. These improved routes would also help to promote walking and cycling to and from the often very busy retail area which includes NottCutts Garden Centre and Aldi etc, on the West Bridgford section of Landmere Lane, off Melton Road (A606) where congestion is also often common and where also there is a particular need to reduce the proportion of trips by car, especially for shorter trips.
The upgrading of the subway-underpass is of key importance, in addition to other improvements for cyclists and pedestrians included in National Highway’s proposals for the two major junctions, and the existing shared path further west, under the A52, on Wilford Lane and Ruddington Lane, the most direct route between Ruddington and Wilford via the Compton Acres and Gresham Park areas on the west side of West Bridgford.
With the many new housing developments in both the Ruddington and West Bridgford areas, a variety of safe connections are needed to suit the convenience of people with an increasing number of origin and destination points, without expecting them to take indirect routes. Providing good safe direct routes, carefully designed and maintained, and preferably more direct than those for drivers, can be a major encouragement to more Active Travel. This applies to both daily utility / work / commuting and leisure trips and, particularly for this area on the edge of West Bridgford, to journeys to and from schools. A number of students attending both the Rushcliffe Spencer and Rosecliffe Spencer Academies live in parts of their catchment areas south of the A52. This fast road and its junctions create a barrier to safe routes except by car and bus and thus deters individuals (including members of staff) from navigating it by active travel modes.
Introduction
Pedals is the local cycling campaign group, established in 1979, for the Greater Nottingham area, i.e. covering Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling Boroughs in addition to Nottingham City. We campaign for the promotion of cycling, with a particular emphasis on the provision of well-planned, well-designed and well-maintained safe, comfortable, attractive and coherent cycle infrastructure. Since the publication, in 2020, of the DfT’s Local Transport Note 1/20, with revised Guidance for the design of Cycle Infrastructure, we have been emphasising the need for new and upgraded infrastructure to meet these higher quality standards.
In this regard we have very much welcomed the recent establishment of Active Travel England, to help ensure the implementation of good standard (DfT LTN 1/20-compliant) schemes by Local Authorities, and now even more, their newer role in working with the same aims with National Highways in the case of trunk road Active Travel schemes, coordinated coherently with Local Authority routes, as set out in the Concordat between ATE and NH in 2024.
Development of our campaign since 1999 for the upgrading of the subway-underpass under the A52 south of Sharp Hill and north of Landmere Lane, Ruddington
Our interest in proposals for making it safer and easier for vulnerable road users to cross safely the A52 in the vicinity of the A60 Nottingham Knight and A606 Wheatcroft Junctions goes back many years before the National Highways Public Exhibition of their major proposals for these two junctions in January 2019. While in general welcoming the proposed improvements for cyclists and pedestrians as part of these wider proposals we were disappointed that they did not include a clear commitment to the upgrading of the subway-underpass under the A52 south of Sharp Hill and north of Landmere Lane near Wayte Court on the Ruddington side, for which we had started campaigning 20 years earlier, supporting the suggestion that was made at that time in an early meeting of the West Bridgford Local Traffic and Transport Group.
We held meetings on several occasions with officers of the various predecessors of National Highways (e.g. A-One Plus, the Highways Agency and Highways England) and raised the potential of this subway-underpass for promoting north-south active travel. We indicated that a project to restore it to use with improved access links for walkers and cyclists would be far less disruptive and expensive than constructing a new one at this or another location, but the response was not generally encouraging.
However, one useful step was the site meeting held in January 2011 with Jeremy Dixon of A-One Plus, at that time the Managing Agent Consultancy for Area 7 which included Nottinghamshire. This meeting was also attended by Jane Baines from Nottinghamshire County Council, Karina Wells and myself from Pedals, and (now former) Rushcliffe Borough Councillor Rod Jones who was very keen to see the removal of the obstruction of the subway-underpass by a large mound of earth and for it then to become a designated public footpath, connecting to other public footpaths in the Sharp Hill area which he was also pressing to have registered. This mound had been placed there, we understood, by the owner of the land to the north of the A52, to deter people from walking through. However, at the site meeting, Mr. Dixon commented that the presence of the mound was making it impossible for A-One Plus to carry out their obligations to do regular inspections of the condition of the subway-underpass and that, on those grounds alone, it was very important that it should be removed. This was subsequently done and soon afterwards the facility was opened as part of a signed Public Footpath (FP33), connecting to FP30 on the Sharp Hill side, as well as several other footpaths in that area for whose designation Rod Jones also campaigned.
Several years later, in the spring of 2020, following the onset of the Covid 19 Pandemic, many people from the local area discovered the subway-underpass for the first time during their permitted daily exercise. Many were very surprised, firstly, to learn that it existed, and, secondly, often appalled that it was in such a very poor state despite its basic potential great value as a safe and convenient crossing point of the A52 in this area. It was obvious that the facility was particularly unattractive to use in wet weather when the main approaches, especially on the north side, was often very wet and muddy.
As a result of this wider public interest Nottinghamshire and Rushcliffe Ramblers became involved for the first time in the longstanding Pedals campaign to upgrade the subway-underpass. This wider support and involvement were very welcome. This new interest then led to the formation of the A52 Active Travel Crossings Partnerships campaign led by The Ramblers with the support of several other local groups including Pedals, the British Horse Society and the County Local Access Forum.
In April 2021 the A52 Partnership launched a petition to National Highways which attracted the support of more than 2000 people and much wider publicity. We also obtained support for our campaign from the former MP for Rushcliffe, Ruth Edwards, and in June 2021 a site meeting was held with the main interested parties including Ruth Edwards MP, Councillor Neil Clarke, representing Nottinghamshire County Council, Steve Parkhouse and Sue Jones from The Ramblers, and myself from Pedals. The support we then gained from Ruth Edwards and from Councillor Clarke led directly to National Highways agreeing to commission a feasibility study to examine the potential for upgrading the subway-underpass and its approaches. This work was carried out by Tetra Tech Ltd, and their report was published in March 2022. Following the completion of report Tetra Tech arranged two site meetings with stakeholders to discuss their report and proposals.
National Highways then embarked on negotiations with the landowners involved to acquire the relatively small portion of land to help upgrade the north side approach. However, these discussions dragged on for a long time, and so we understand, in the case of the land owned by Mr. Brian Wells, it was not possible to reach any agreement. National Highways then carried out a further feasibility study in 2024 to look at the potential for improving access on the north side of the subway access by a route entirely within the land in their ownership but in the end this did not prove feasible.
We were very disappointed that no further progress had by then be made and, like other groups in the A52 Active Travel Partnership, we are very disappointed that the land proposed for Compulsory Purchase by National Highways for the wider major junction schemes did not include the land needed to upgrade the approaches to the subway-underpass from the north connecting through to Landmere Lane and to the north-south shared path between that point and Boundary Road, West Bridgford.
This shared path had been included by Rushcliffe Borough Council, following the adoption of the Rushcliffe Local Plan (Part 1 Core Strategy), in their subsequently adopted 2015 Melton Road Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document for the whole Edwalton Fields / Melton Road Sustainable Urban Extension area on the east side of Sharp Hill which is set on completion in 2026 to deliver some 1800 dwellings and an eventual population of approximately 4,400, using the 2023 average household size for the East Midlands. The SUE’s developers have contributed to “a package of improvements to the A52” of which it can be argued that improvement of the subway-underpass would ideally meet the Local Plan objective of managing travel demand (c.f. Local Plan, Part 1, Policy 20 D 9, 11 and 14 (3).
Several parts of that shared path have in fact been constructed in the last few years, mostly between the east side of Sharp Hill Woods and the west side of the Edwalton Fields housing development, but then turning east near the site of the new Community Centre (now being built, by Rose Way), and then continuing towards Machin’s Lane and the existing shared path between Machin’s Lane and Boundary Road near Rushcliffe Spencer Academy. There is also now a half-completed shared path on all of Rose Way, which directly serves Rosecliffe Spencer Academy as well as the Community Centre site. We are keen to see all these routes, on Rose Way, and between Boundary Road and the subway-underpass, as well as connections to and from Ruddington, finally completed and coherently connected and then widely promoted, including via clear and consistent signing, both of the status of the various paths (cycle paths, shared paths, and footpaths) and of the destinations they serve.
Cyclists will also soon benefit from their ability to use the bus-only link between the west end of Rose Way and the south end of Musters Road, to the south of its junction with Boundary Road) once the whole Edwalton Fields housing development is complete in 2026, including Rose Way becoming adopted as highway, with the final surface being added on the carriageway and the shared paths, as well as the currently still very uneven side road crossings.
Key points of our evidence
The key point we particularly wish to emphasise in our evidence is we very much endorse the central objection of the A52 Active Travel Partnership that the area for Compulsory Purchase of the land required for the revised A52 / A606 Wheatcroft Junction scheme should have been extended to include the land needed for upgrading the links to the north end of the subway-underpass with that facility becoming a public bridleway and then used for diverting the bridleway from the much more dangerous crossing at grade point closer to the Wheatcroft roundabout.
We very much agree with other Objectors that the existing at grade crossing is already a very dangerous place to cross and also that the extra motor traffic likely to be using the redeveloped Wheatcroft Junction with all the many new and planned housing developments in the area will make this even more dangerous to cross in future. We fail to understand just how the great concerns at this apparently inevitable significant aggravation of the dangers for vulnerable road users attempting to cross at this point can so easily have been dismissed in the Walking, Cycling and Horse-riding Routes Assessment for the whole Major Scheme for the A52/A60 and A52/A606 roundabouts. We very much agree with the general comments on the many weaknesses of the whole of this WCHAR exercise made by David Mackrory in his evidence, particularly with regard to a lack of rigour in some of the assessment and review work carried out, especially with regard to user safety, despite the importance of WCHAR process emphasised in National Highway’s own GG 142 Report whose assessment and reviews of provision for walking, cycling and horse-riding are, we understand, a requirement of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges.
We therefore very much agree that the at grade crossings should be regarded as an integral part of the layout of the whole A52/A606 Wheatcroft Junction and therefore that it seems far more sensible to divert the bridleway (BW2 and BW18) via the existing subway underpass, with upgraded approaches. These great improvements would also be of great benefit to Rosecliffe Spencer Academy and Rushcliffe Spencer Academy, both of which have catchment areas on both side of the very busy A52. Rushcliffe Spencer Academy have for many years therefore been strong supporters of our upgrading campaign, we would like to emphasise.
The subway-underpass is therefore in several ways the key to the much-improved Active Travel Network needed in an area that is undergoing rapid development either side of the A52. This is development enabled by the major roundabouts scheme. Indeed, we suggest that not making much better use of the subway-underpass could be regarded as a huge waste of public asset and the excellent opportunity presented by this existing but much neglected facility. Although its headroom (2.4 metres) is lower than that (2.8m) ideally required to accommodate horse-riders we know that, if mounting blocks are provided by both entrances, most horse-riders are quite willing to dismount and use a facility like this which offers a much safer way to cross such a very busy main road. We also know, from our earlier survey work, that the 2.4m height of this subway-underpass is no less than that of another trunk road subway not so far away, i.e. the one under the A453 near the Silverdale Roundabout in Nottingham, a facility that, though narrower, was designated for shared use many years ago now.
Concluding remarks: the wider context for the importance of the upgrading of the subway-underpass under the A52 including the need to maximise the potential value of this upgrading with complementary improvements to the north and south
I should also take the opportunity to mention that Pedals also sees the upgrading of the subway-underpass and its approaches as being the key part of a longer Active Travel scheme connecting to the north the Edwalton and Melton Road (A606) sides of West Bridgford with, to the south, Ruddington village and Rushcliffe Country Park. This would have great potential for encouraging leisure cycling and walking, as well as helping extend the network for daily / utility / commuting trips.
On the north side this would connect with the completion of the shared path to and from Boundary Road, West Bridgford (near Rushcliffe Spencer Academy) as well as improved links to and from Melton Road (A606) and its shared paths (between Landmere Lane and Village Street, Edwalton). To the south, in addition to connecting to Bridleway 2 round the south and east sides of Mickleborough Hill, this should connect, with some traffic calming measures on Landmere Lane on the Ruddington side (to reduce the dangers to vulnerable road users from speeding motor traffic), to Old Loughborough Road, a safe (toucan) crossing of the A60 to connect to and from Ruddington village and also then a connecting path or shared path through to Rushcliffe Country Park and Ruddington Fields Business Park, as well as the newer housing developments off the A60 on the south side of Ruddington. When fully implemented this would be a very useful coherent route connecting to other routes for cyclists and pedestrians in the West Bridgford and Ruddington areas, as well as other parts of Rushcliffe and the wider Greater Nottingham Cycle Network.
In view of the Concordat which, we understand, now exists between National Highways and Active Travel England, we suggest that ATE should be very much involved in the detailed discussions about these further connections, along with the County and Borough Councils, developers, West Bridgford Local Traffic and Transport Group, Ruddington Parish Councils, and local user and residents’ groups such as the Friends of Sharp Hill and the Sharp Hill Action Group, and the Sharp Hill Stakeholders meetings organised regularly by local Borough and County Councillor Jonathan Wheeler. It is also very important to draw on the extensive experience of Sustrans and also, given the potential strategic scale of this comprehensive package of improvements, Alan Simpson, the Sustainable Travel Ambassador for the East Midlands Combined County Authority.
Hugh McClintock,
for Pedals (Nottingham Cycling Campaign)
– website www.pedals.org.uk
162 Musters Road
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7AA
email: Hugh.McClintock@ntlworld.com
Mobile: 07880 962135
17 June 2025