With a grant from the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership, which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, I am looking at what sustainable public transport options might be introduced to encourage more people to visit the Ouse Washes and the surrounding areas - by means other than by car. The results of this survey will be incorporated into a report with recommendations for the implementation of various options.
The Ouse Washes Landscape covers an area of rural Fenland with important engineering heritage, and wetland habitats roughly from Downham Market to St Ives and in between March and Ely. It includes distinctive sites like the WWT Welney Wetland Centre, the Environment Agency’s Denver Complex (south of Downmarket Market), RSPB Ouse Washes (near Manea) and RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes (near Fenstanton). Near to this area, there are also other sites that reflect the Fenland Landscape and heritage like National Trust’s Wicken Fen, Prickwillow Museum and the Stretham Old Engine. There are also a number of other rural tourist/leisure related businesses.
The area is well-served by five railway stations that enable people from other parts of England and further afield to visit the area. However, access to public transport in the area is variable ranging from a regular guided busway service in the south between Cambridge and Huntingdon to some of the sites not having any public transport at all.
.Bike racks have been fitted to buses travelling between Elgin, Kinloss, Findhorn, Forres, Hopeman and Burghead, and local services to and from the new Forres health centre will increase to run every hour droping-off inside the health centre grounds. The £213,000 project which started in 2015 has been funded for two years by Hitrans, Stagecoach, Moray Council and the Bus Investment Fund.
This is a summer service, operating from May 19th – September 16th, 2016. Service 804 travels west from Inverness, via Strathpeffer to Ullapool and on to Durness, offering both cyclists and the public some beautiful views and scenery.
