Volunteer litter pickers from Stockport IT company, CDL, environmental charity Sustrans, the Trans Pennine Trail rangers and Stockport Council rolled up their sleeves to clean up the Kings Reach Bridleway section of the Trans Pennine Trail, bordering the River Mersey.
Ahead of the spring growth of foliage, the newly cleared bridleway and surrounding area is now ready to welcome visitors in the warmer months ahead.
The Kings Reach bridleway was officially re-opened in September 2015 following an extensive improvement project which saw the area re-surfaced and landscaped to improve views of the River Mersey, and the installation of lighting, seating, interpretation boards and a picnic area along the trail.
CDL Group Director, Melissa Johnson, commented: “Since it was re-opened last year, the bridleway has vastly improved the accessibility of the Stockport area and has encouraged some of our staff to leave their cars at home and walk or cycle to work instead.
“With summer approaching, it was the perfect opportunity to spruce up the pathway and make it a place that people from the local community choose to visit to enjoy the sunshine. The area looks fantastic and we would like to say a big thank you to everybody involved for the time they put into the spring clean – thankfully the weather held up for us!”
Since it re-opened, further re-surfacing work has taken place along the route through to East Didsbury and Manchester Road so that there is now an all weather, traffic-free route along the Trans Pennine Trail for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians from Stockport to Cheadle and Didsbury villages.
The Friends of the Trans Pennine Trail, a charity dedicated to actively maintaining and protecting the Trail, have also secured a £10,000 funding grant through the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ initiative, which will help to fund the provision of new interpretation boards along the pathway. These will provide information about the varied and rich heritage of the local area, including bleach and dye works, railways and hat making.
Kathy England, Group Co-ordinator for the Trans Pennine Trail volunteer rangers, added: “The Trans Pennine Trail is a real asset to the Stockport area and we’re grateful for the support of the dedicated volunteers who play a vital role in its maintenance and care. With their support and the funding from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ initiative, the Trans Pennine Trail has been given a new lease of life, and we cannot thank those who have helped us enough.”
CDL is one of the UK’s leading insurance software houses, employing over 550 people at its headquarters in Stockport. It has a strong track record in the high volume retail insurance sector, consistently anticipating consumer purchasing trends and delivering powerful technology that enables insurance companies to capitalise on them. Clients include Ageas Retail, esure broker, Hastings Direct and Tesco Bank.
CDL offers integrated administration and web solutions that enable intermediaries to compete effectively in the highly competitive insurance marketplace.
The software house is a leader in the aggregator and telematics space, providing the infrastructure to support and process vast amounts of data. CDL’s largest clients each generate over 1 million online quotes per day, primarily through price comparison websites.
The company has also recorded over 100 million journeys on the CDL Trip database, which scores factors such as time of day, road type, speed, cornering and heavy acceleration or braking, empowering drivers to influence the cost of their insurance according to their individual driving skills.