Release Date: May 2011

Great Stour Way Opening

The new Canterbury to Chartham riverside path – the Great Stour Way was officially opened on Saturday at 12.30pm by David Brazier - Kent County Council Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste, Bill Brett - Chief Executive of the Brett Group, Simon Pratt - Regional Director of UK charity Sustrans, and the Lord Mayor of Canterbury.       

The event was marked by a walk along the 3 mile stretch of path lead by the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership and a guided bike ride lead by Kent cycling group Spokes. Music was provided by local musicians Nigel Hobbins and the Backroom Boys and there were displays by Kent Enterprise Trust, Spokes and the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership. Many people sat down after the opening event to enjoy the beautiful surroundings, listen to the music and have picnics.     

The path, which is already proving extremely popular, includes a new bridge over the river Great Stour behind Staples/the Wincheap Park and Ride. The path is now part of the National Cycle Network, route 18, and for people from Canterbury it’s a gateway to the Stour Valley and to the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

The project has been managed by a working group of organisations - Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council , Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership and Sustrans and has been made possible with the co-operation of local landowners including Robert Brett & Sons and Kent Enterprise Trust, and support from local cycling group Spokes.

Jon Shelton, Manager of the Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership, who has worked on the project for 18 years, encouraging and negotiating with partners and landowners, planning and fundraising says ‘the idea of this route was written into plans in the 1980s, which just shows how easy it is to put something in a plan, but how difficult it can be to deliver it. The opening event was a special day for many of us who have worked on the scheme and I hope the shared use path will give great enjoyment to walkers, cyclists and disabled people in the years to come. It can be used by people shopping on the Wincheap Retail Estate, by school children cycling to school in Canterbury or by people just wanting a breath of fresh air alongside the river. As with all shared use paths users are encouraged to be courteous, with cyclists giving way to pedestrians, and for dog walkers to clean up after their dogs. They should also be aware that at certain times of the year there will be livestock on the path and that they should not disturb nesting birds on the river, lakes or fields. The path is already proving very popular with a whole range of people from some ‘shaky’ cyclists, to people in mobility scooters and the blind. Canterbury is the cycling hub of Kent with fantastic routes also going to Whitstable – the Crab and Winkle Way, Sandwich, Dover, Folkestone and negotiations underway to cycle through the Blean Woods to Faversham and Herne Bay’. 

The route in Canterbury can be accessed by cyclists following route 1 signs to Whitehall Road , by pedestrians from Westgate Gardens or by mobility scooters from Reims Way or Whitehall Road .

The route features RADAR gates and users of mobility scooters will require a RADAR key to open these.               

The Kentish Stour Countryside Partnership has just received some funding to publish a leaflet on the route which should be available in the summer. The KSCP are also working on providing some more seats along the route.

Kentish Stour Countryside Project
Sidelands Farm, Wye, Ashford, Kent TN25 5DQ
01233 813307
kentishstour@kent.gov.uk