Wokingham Borough Council Announces Shinfield and Winnersh Cycle Way

A new 2.5km stretch of cycleway along Lower Earley Way will be the longest to date built by Wokingham Borough Council, and will enable cyclists to pedal between Shinfield and Winnersh.

The new section, which will be separate from the busy road to make it safer for cyclists, will connect a gap in the existing cycle network creating 4.7km of continuous cycleway along the B3270 from the Black Boy junction, on the Reading boundary, to the A329 Wokingham Road.

£747,825 of the some £1.1million needed to build the new cycleway is coming from central government’s Cycle Safety Fund, under the proviso that the council funds the rest.

Members of the council’s decision-making executive agreed last week (May 30) that the remaining £341,500 needed for the scheme should come from developer’s contributions for Marsh Farm in Lower Earley.

Lower Earley Way has long been recognised as a barrier to cycling as the road was constructed in the 1980s without a footway or cycleway.

Work on the new cycleway is due to start this autumn, and be finished by April next year.