An alternative to feasibility studies?
For toolkit readers
I’ve been speaking to John Grimshaw, one of the founders of the National Cycle Network, who’s now 80.5 years old. He insists paths don’t need feasibility studies, saying the feasibility basically comes down to whether a landowner agrees to the route or not. You may or may not be able to persuade your local authority of the veracity of this claim, but he adds there hasn’t been a single feasibility study he’s worked on in five decades that’s made a path better.
While feasibility studies can be valuable in making a case for a path and sketching out a route, they are expensive: they require consultants to draw up maps and conduct studies. John Grimshaw’s approach is to produce what he calls ‘work books’ instead. Here is an example of one, for a section he and volunteers worked on last summer (in which I briefly held a wire brush, then a rake).
John’s work books are usually three-page documents with a map of the area and an explanation of the route, followed by cross section drawings of a potential path, its major features and drainage.
Attached is an example of one of John’s workbooks for reference. It’s an incredibly cool route, in which a bridge was lowered into place over a working road, on top of old railway line bridge parapets. The original railway bridge was long gone, but thankfully it was possible to replace it.
John draws up pencil sketches of what a path might look like, arguing that having a pencil sketch makes it feel less formal and a ‘done deal’ in the mind of a landowner. It also means you can tweak any designs more easily as you make discoveries.
Either way, without landowner agreement, he believes, you’re wasting your time on feasibility studies. If you can argue the case on this point successfully with a local authority you can save a lot of time and money.
Part of page two is above, barring the written explanation of the route. The final and third page is below, outlining the technical aspects of the route, such as drainage and the masterpiece bridge John designed, from old concrete railway sleepers, for the farmer to cross over, and path users to cross under.
Hopefully you can download the full report below. Let me know in the comments if there’s any problems.
I’ve often wondered if there’s a magic way of producing something written or visual that would gather enthusiasm for a route, even without landowner agreement at an early stage. There’s a danger of upsetting people, but also could create a strong desire for a route. I’ve seen London Underground style maps that are suitably vague so that they don’t obviously on any particular section of land.
This really describes pre-feasibility work, where you discuss such issues with the landowner to see if the project is even worth it in the first place. A good feasibility study then looks at the issues in depth.
As much as I love informal approaches and its great for getting things done quickly, done badly they can cause a lot of issues around access rights and land ownership further down the line.