Exhibition showing planned walking route through Faversham opens

First designs showing how a town’s road network could be transformed in a £1 million project have been revealed.

Intended to make walking or cycling between Faversham’s recreation ground and Lower Road “safer and more pleasant for residents and visitors”, construction is set to start early in 2024.

Faversham Town Council (FTC) received funding from Active Travel England for the “cross-town walking route” earlier this year after a successful bid from the county council.

The works will focus on a town centre route running from Lower Road, down South Road, through Cross Lane and Gatefield Lane and through the recreation ground.

Under the plans, two new crossings will be built – one at the junction of Newton Road and Cross Lane, and another at South Road and Napleton Road.

At various points along the route pavements will be extended and roads narrowed, and dropped kerbs and raised road surfaces will be introduced at crossings to make pedestrians more visible to motorists.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Councillor Julian Saunders, the Vice Chair of Faversham Town Council's Active Travel Committee, said "there'd been a good amount of positive feedback" on the first day.

"I know certainly some people have come in and queried things like parking spaces and their location."

"It may well be that there are some minor changes that can be made before the work starts."

Cllr Saunders added that encouraging more people to walk is "good for people in terms of their health, it's good for the environment because it discourages a car use and it's good for the air quality because it results in a lot less fumes and congestion."

"I think it is something that we we need to encourage and certainly the Town Council's committed to it."

Nathan Iliffe, acting as spokesman for the Faversham Association of Businesses, says traders broadly back the plans, but want the works to be considerate to car users.

“The Faversham Association Businesses welcomes any scheme that will make it easier for residents to travel across the town and access all the fantastic local businesses that Faversham has to offer,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“Any scheme that encourages people to walk or cycle is beneficial for both peoples’ health and the environment.

“We do however urge our local representatives at all three tiers of local government (Faversham Town Council, Swale Borough Council and Kent County Council) to remember that Faversham is a rural market town, supported by a necklace of villages. Many residents, who do not live near the town centre do have to rely on other modes of transport, including the car.

“To maintain and grow a successful local economy, infrastructure has to be in place to ensure that all residents can get around easily and are encouraged into the town centre.

“We look forward to seeing how the scheme progresses and welcome any dialogue with us, so that the implementers of the scheme can understand the position of Faversham businesses and ensure the scheme can be as beneficial as possible.”

Cllr Saunders added he recognised people's concerns, saying he accepted "we're not going to encourage everyone to walk and cycle from local villages into the town."

"The town council's, done some other work, looking at how we can make it easier for people to come in from from neighbouring villages, and there are some where I think we can encourage more people to cycle in, as opposed to there aren't many locations where we could encourage people to regularly walk in to town."

"Clearly car uses is kind of heavy and if anything is is increasing as as the population of the town increases, so encouraging people to cycle and walk is only part of the picture."

The full exhibition of planned changes will be held at Faversham Town Hall starting on Friday November 17, after which it will be open from 10am to 4pm every day until Sunday November 26.