*** UPDATE – May 2022, see below ***

We previously reported on plans to access council funds for refurbishing back lanes.

The council not only required bids to come from a formally constituted body, i.e. The Society, but also set a very short deadline for the first round of applications, preventing us from conducting a fuller consultation. We therefore set about surveying the lanes and establishing how we could make small but meaningful improvements to the lanes within a budget of £20,000.

For the bulk of the bid we chose to focus on improving access in the back lanes, specifically for active travel, such as those walking and cycling, and sought to identify the areas where this is most difficult. On a wet day it became obvious that where the poor state of the surface combines with a tendency to flooding, lanes can be completely impassable to those on foot. The areas worst affected are the two entrances to the Vennard/Marywood lane from Vennard Gardens, and a short mid-section of the Marywood/Queen Square lane. If our bid is successful we will be looking to find a contractor who can perform patch repairs to these areas to improve access. We will need to seek permission of the owners of the adjacent properties, as the lanes are their property, and we will be approaching them in due course.

While we acknowledge other suggestions were made, we felt it appropriate to concentrate on fixing the worst problems first.

We have also bid for funding for indemnity insurance, previously withdrawn by the council, to cover our Brighter Bungo clean up events, a matter of a few hundreds of pounds.

There will be further rounds of funding, so if we can pull this off, it may allow us to bid for further projects in due course. We will let you know how we get on.

Update – May 2022

The Society has been awarded £20,000 to be spent by mid October. We need the written permission of the adjacent residents, who own the lanes, and are making good progress making contacts. We will also be seeking contractors who might be interested to discuss what can be achieved. If you think you have the skills to help us email our chair.