Bennerley Viaduct Eastern Visitor Centre and Cafe to open on 18 July

The Bennerley Viaduct Eastern Ramp opened in March at last, after 40+ years of campaigning, to complete this great new Active Travel route across the Erewash Valley on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Now, after further delays, the Visiting Centre and Cafe are to open to the public from 12.00 on Saturday 18 July 2026.

The Bennerley Viaduct Eastern Ramp opened in late February 2026, about 18 months after it was first due to be completed, because of a series of issues with ground subsidence, including the discovery of an unexpected mineshaft.

This completes this long-awaited great cycling and walking route, with superb view from both sides of the Viaduct, a project with which Pedals first got involved in campaigning for back in 1982!

This will also be a very welcome addition to the restoration of this very historic railway viaduct over the Erewash Valley between Ilkeston and Awsworth and connecting to both the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire arms of the Erewash Valley Trail as well as various other cycling and walking routes.

The campaign for this project goes back to the Public Inquiry in the early 1980s into the application by what was then the British Railways Property Board for listed building consent to demolish this historic structure, on which rail services stopped in 1963.

The Secretary of State for the Environment at the time, Michael Heseltine, endorsed the recommendation of the Inquiry Inspector that, in view of the apparent clear interest in saving the Viaduct and reusing it as a walking and cycling route, a Working Group to be formed of interest groups to explore this idea further.

This resulted in an appeal from John Grimshaw, the former CEO and Director of Sustrans, for Pedals to join the Working Group which then started a series of regular meeting, in Ilkeston. Several other groups became involved, with interests in old railways and historic structures, including the Arkwright Society and the Victorian Society, as well as local County and Borough Council Officers from both counties, and there was strong interest from the former Countryside Commission.

Things then waxed and waned for many years but the next important landmark was when Sustrans acquired the Viaduct from the BR Property Board and the Railway Path Project, their sister organisation, got involved.

In 2015 there was further new momentum with the formation of the Friends of Bennerley Viaduct, with wide local support and a strong effort on consolidating this with Community Engagement, as well as securing funding from various organisations including Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Railway Heritage Trust, the HB Allen Charitable Trust, Severn Trent Water plc, the Charles Hayward Foundation, and the Railway Ramblers.

This formation of the FOBV, working closely with the Railway Path Project, and the other wider support, resulted in the Viaduct and western access ramp being opened in August 2022, with an opening ceremony by the Lord Lieutenants of both Nottinghamshire and Derby, and many other people, including lots of cyclists and walkers.

Funding for the eastern ramp became a separate exercise with strong support from Broxtowe Borough Council and Kimberley Means Business. The new ramp provides another useful link between the Nottinghamshire ad Derbyshire arms of the Erewash Valley Trail. Further route connections are being considered across Ilkeston and NCN Route 67 (The Nutbrook Trail) towards Breadsall and Derby, via NCN Route 672 and towards the west side of Nottingham.

   

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