00:08 Hello, I'm Andrew Souter. I'm the Chief Exec of Curedon Valley Park Trust
00:13 and we are just about to start the construction of a brand new path through the park.
00:18 It's been supported by Lancashire County Council with some funding,
00:22 Lancashire Environment Fund with some funding and also the local parish council.
00:25 What it will allow us to do is create a new accessibility footpath that will run from the visitor centre,
00:31 where we're sat, down to a new bridge that's going to cross the River Lostock
00:35 and join with the new upgrades to the cycle path and take people through the park.
00:40 The park's about 650 acres and we have a lot of local residents that will come and walk here literally every day.
00:47 Lots of people come and run through the park and cycle through the park.
00:50 But we also have people coming from further afield to enjoy the cafe, which is where we're sat now.
00:56 One of the challenges we have is that the park broadly follows the line of the River Lostock as it runs through the valley.
01:02 And being a river valley, that means the sides of the park are quite steep as they descend towards the river.
01:08 Unfortunately, that means for accessibility purposes, some of the paths are a little bit difficult for people with mobility needs.
01:15 So addressing that has long been an ambition of the trustees.
01:20 And thanks to this current project, we're about to create a brand new route,
01:23 which will give people a much easier route down into the valley and allow them to experience the park in a much more inclusive way.
01:31 [Music]
01:57 My name's Tony. I work for Lancashire County Council and I work in the Rights of Way team.
02:02 And I'm down at Kewerden today and we're having a look at, it's about the halfway point through this project.
02:08 So one of the reasons that Lancashire County Council is really keen to support projects like this is we want to see more people out enjoying the countryside, getting out, getting a bit of exercise.
02:18 During the lockdown, a lot of people went out and started exploring their local area.
02:23 I'm really keen that people carry on with that. There are some great benefits for people getting out and getting more active.
02:29 One of the things that will do, I mean that people walking through the park have got a nice easy way up to use the cafe and the toilets,
02:36 which is really great because that's something that people often worry about when they go out into the countryside.
02:43 It's quite steep here we're coming up, but we're working really hard to get the gradients right so that it's not too difficult to walk on the way up.
02:51 And we're putting some resting points in as well to make it nice and easy for people and then carry on your journey up.
02:57 And there'll be a nice cup of coffee or piece of cake waiting for you at the top.
03:01 [Music]
03:22 We're then hopefully going to create a new accessibility trail that runs through some wider areas within the park.
03:28 And as part of that, again with some support from Lancashire County Council,
03:31 we are going to be able to offer the use of two tramper vehicles for people with accessibility needs.
03:37 They can come in, hire them from us and follow a marked trail through the park and hopefully get to experience some of what is a wonderful area of countryside.
03:45 [Music]
04:14 [Music]
04:24 Hi, I'm Alex from Sustrans down here at Huerden Valley Park today to take a look at some of the redesigned access control barriers
04:31 that's tying in with the new project at the visitor centre.
04:35 So you might have seen the new path that's gone in, opening up the park, make sure everyone who wants to be able to use it,
04:41 so walkers, cyclists, wheelers, you know, everyone who's got a cargo bike, anything like that,
04:46 they can simply access the park a lot easier.
04:50 It's a vast improvement. I've walked the park now for the last 20 years.
04:56 So the walk used to be down the side of the field.
05:00 It got very damaged with the rain and it was like a water path down and it eroded.
05:06 Whereas now it's nice and sort of meandering down the valley.
05:10 It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's made such a big difference.
05:13 It's such an easy gradient to walk up or push a wheelchair up.
05:18 And whether you come at seven o'clock in the morning or seven o'clock at night, there is somebody coming up or down the path.
