Community / Community asked to vote on options for new Whiteness and Weisdale path
A GROUP set up to get people out and about in Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale is asking the community to have their say on the potential creation of a new path.
Following discussions with local landowners, four options in the Whiteness and Weisdale area are being put forward for people to choose from.
They are a path from Olligarth (near the Whiteness shop) to the Whiteness and Weisdale Hall, a path round Hellister Loch, a path from the Weisdale shop up to the Swedish Houses and a path from the top of Weisdale Voe up to Bonhoga.
Chair of the Win Furt group Andrew Archer said: “We drew up a list of options that we wanted to put forward and then spent several months talking to the relevant landowners to see whether the ideas were acceptable to them.
“Most of the landowners that we spoke to were positive about what we are trying to achieve, but in some cases there are practical difficulties that mean that we have had to cross some of the options off the list.
“The most common concerns were people with dogs and where a path would mean chopping a park in two.”
A leaflet outlining the options is being delivered to every household in the Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale area.
People can vote on the group’s website or at a drop-in session that is being held at Whiteness and Weisdale Hall on the morning of Saturday 27 January.
Voting is open to anybody who lives in the Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale Community Council area and is of secondary school age or above.
Archer added: “I really hope that people will take part in the vote.
“We know that safer walking and safer cycling are really important to people locally and it has to be the community that chooses which of the options we try to tackle first.”
The group had hoped to offer a similar set of choices on the Tingwall side but that has proved more tricky.
Archer said: “At the moment, we just have one proposal in Tingwall, which is for a path from the bus stop by the Strand Loch to the corner of the Laxfirth road and we will start more detailed discussions on that with the landowner and potential funders shortly.”
There is a growing number of new paths in the pipeline across Shetland, although these are mostly proposed via the local authority with government funding.
Win Wurt is a charity set up in recent years by local people to carry our projects such as building footpaths and cycle paths.
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