by John Prince
East Riding Council has said that a new path connecting Seaton with Hornsea that took 20 years to build after it was first proposed, faced funding hurdles before work started on it earlier this year.
The path was pushed for by Seaton Parish Council who approached North Holderness ward councillor Barbara Jefferson, who has been campaigning to get it built for two decades.
Work on the path along the A1035 finally started in March and is due to be completed by December. The cost was revealed by Cllr Jefferson to the Gazette last week, with the amount coming in at around £700,000.
Following questions from the public, the council also confirmed that the pathway is a shared one, which can be used by cyclists as well as walkers, and people using mobility aids such as scooters and wheelchairs.
A spokesperson for East Riding Council said: “This Seaton to Hornsea path has been a long-standing aspiration for the local community and the council, however, the scheme proved challenging to fund alongside the council’s wider transport and infrastructure priorities, given the limited levels of funding for walking and cycling schemes historically available from the Department for Transport.
“The recent increase in Local Transport Grant funding, administered through HEYCA, provided an opportunity to make a one-off investment for this project.
“Once funding was available and the scheme was confirmed as deliverable, work was given the go-ahead to begin.
“When complete, this will be a shared path, so pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users, mobility scooters and people with pushchairs will be able to use it, giving a safer and more accessible off-road route for all to use.”
Cllr Jefferson said last week that the path was a big improvement on the existing one, which in places was nothing more than a track worn into the ground. She praised Seaton Parish Council, saying she was proud of what had been achieved.
