STUDENTS and employees in the Callington area are now able to ditch the car and walk to school and work, thanks to a scheme to complete a missing link along the A390.
The scheme has been jointly funded by Cornwall County Council, Sustrans and Callington Town Council.
The route into Callington along the A390 corridor from the St Anns Chapel/Delaware area will provide students, workers, residents and visitors with a walking and cycling route and allow people to visit Kit Hill without using their car. As part of this scheme a local lane known by the students as 'Mud Lane' has also been upgraded.
The condition of 'Mud Lane' was highlighted in 2003 in a school travel plan, carried out by the county council's travel awareness team, as an area of concern. Students attending Callington Community College identified the track as needing improvement. The track will become part of the local network of footpaths and cycle tracks and linking into the Tamar Valley. The Tamar Valley regeneration scheme was ongoing so the opportunity was taken to link this scheme with a larger scheme to provide an off road footway and cycle track.
The finished scheme will provide an easy and obvious route to the school for students living in south east Callington and Ginsters' employees who work in the nearby industrial estate.
Michelle Roberts, director of community sport, Callington Community College, said: 'Callington Community College, a specialist sports college, is keen to encourage all students to keep active and live a healthy lifestyle. One way of doing that is either by walking or cycling to school. The completion of this scheme will enable both staff and college students to cycle to school and keep fit while doing so.'
The scheme will also support other initiatives within Callington to improve fitness and create a healthier environment for everyone.
A recent Ginsters staff survey revealed a general level of unfitness and unhealthiness among its staff, and the company sought funding through the government's 'Active Workplaces' scheme to promote healthy lifestyles including walking and cycling to work.
South West regional director for Sustrans, Adrian Roper, said: 'We are pleased to have been able to offer a £64,000 grant to help this new path to become a reality. It is vital that we give children across the region safe cycling and walking routes to school. Cycling and walking has so many benefits for pupils such as improved health, confidence and concentration as well as the obvious benefits for the environment in which they will grow up.'