Walkers can now enjoy a new rural footpath stroll linking the National Trust's Styal estate with Manchester Airport's Runway2 trail in the Bollin Valley.
A £27,000 grant has enabled Cheshire East Council's Bollin Valley Partnership rangers to complete a long-awaited improvement scheme to this footpath in the Morley Green area of Wilmslow.
The path forms an essential part of the Bollin Valley Way, linking the Quarry Bank Mill and Styal estate, the Runway2 footpath at the airport and the network of Cheshire East Council footpaths and public rights of way.
The grant came from Waste Recycling Environment (WREN), a not-for-profit organisation that distributes grants for community, conservation and heritage projects from funds obtained through landfill tax. The money is donated through the Landfill Communities Fund.
The funding enabled the footpath to be properly signposted, drained and surfaced with kissing gates installed to improve access.
Councillor David Brown, cabinet member for highways and infrastructure, said: "This is an important achievement for our partnership and it will benefit walkers, hikers and all those people who like to explore our green and pleasant countryside here in Cheshire East.
"The footpath was too wet and boggy for many, apart from the most intrepid of walkers. This work has opened up this stretch of the Bollin Valley to a much wider cross-section of people who enjoy exploring our great outdoors."
Richard Smith, grant manager for Wren in Cheshire, said: "It is wonderful to see something we have funded finally open to the public and ready to make such a difference to access at the very popular Bollin Valley Way."
The Bollin Valley Partnership dates back to the late 1960s and the waymarked Bollin Valley Way – a 40km recreational public right of way – takes in the area of countryside stretching from the source of the River Bollin, at Macclesfield Forest, to the industrial parts of the Manchester Ship Canal, in Trafford.
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Photo: Members of the Bollin Valley Partnership on one of the newly installed footbridges across the River Bollin.
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