Garendon Park, Loughborough - Public Access Developments

Important Update 1.1.26: The closure of NCR6 (Alias FP K68) started in mid October with a small diversion near the proposed crossing point for the new distributor road. This was followed in early November by the closure of the section of NCR6 beyond its junction with Hathern Lane. C3C, Persimmon's sub-contractor for the cabling work involved, are performing the work in 2 phases - the first being the section between Hathern Lane and Stonebow Walk, and the second between there and the Coe Avenue entrance (see attached plan). LCC Highways have indicated that the project is due to complete by 26.1.26.

What progress has been made ?

An inspection yesterday revealed that Phase 1 is well underway, but the section between the Red Arch and the Hathern Lane junction is still being worked on. I would estimate a further month's work at least before this section is completed and Phase 1 comes to an end. Since Phase 2 has not yet started (the Coe Avenue to the Stonebow Walk turn section is still open to pedestrians, and has been throughout Phase 1), this more or less guarantees a substantial schedule overrun, assuming cabling will involve the whole length of this section. Based on the limited progress so far, I would estimate the project would not be complete until early to mid-April, with the long diversionary route via Pear Tree Lane in force for much of that time.

NB The quality of the surface along most of the routes inspected was atrocious. The combination of the recent heavy rains and continuous works traffic has effecively turned sections of the route into quagmires. The route is certainly not suitable for cycles, and barely so for pedestrians. Given this is a designated PROW, the landowner has a responsibility to ensure the route is in a fit state for the public to exercise their rights. This is arguably not the case at present....

You'll find more detail of the history of the Garendon development on my website. You'll also find some information on plans for future development as far as we know them - follow the link below or more details and a status report for the recommended diversionary route. 

NCR6 is an established PROW, and is the only remaining traffic-free route between Shepshed and Loughborough for cyclists and pedestrians. Closing it for this length of time has inconvenienced both pedestrians and cyclists; there is no viable alternative cycle-friendly route, since the Coach Road from Shepshed is also closed and isn't scheduled to reopen again until April 2026. There will no doubt be schedule overruns there also, since works are still very much ongoing in the area where the new road crosses Coach Road. The closures have also restricted access to the established FPs in the southern part of the estate, and will do so more extensively still, once access is blocked from Coe Avenue (likely from early February to mid-April).

For full details of the recent history of footpath availability and available knowledge of the developers' plans for the estate, see the website's Garendon page. 

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I’m publishing this post to provide interested users with a link to my website’s Garendon page, where you’ll find some useful information on public access to the Garendon Park development. Just follow the link.

Amongst other things on the website page, you’ll find a detailed description of which footpaths are currently accessible, as well as some history of the development and what is planned for public amenties there. 

I’ll aim to provide regular updates over the next few months as the developers progress the construction of the new road, since this is likely to have a significant effect on public access. The plan shown below (Fig. 1) was published at the start of the development project by Persimmon, and indicates the intended layout of the Park after development is complete.

Feel free to have a look round the rest of the website while you're there - there's plenty of interest to look at, and a lot of useful stuff available to download as well...

Why have I bothered to posted this 'taster' on Blogger, you may ask ? The answer is - Indexing…

For some reason, the 'Indexbots', those tireless little digital robots which endelssly trawl the net for new website content to index,  seem to be particularly drawn to Blogspot posts. These appear quite consistently to get  indexed virtually overnight; conventional websites can take much longer to update. 

Unfortunately none of this applies to 'Googlebots', which seem to studiously ignore all of Google's own products (e.g. Blogspot and Google Sites).  I've no idea why this is; given that it means that anyone who uses Google as their principal search engine (i.e. most of the online human population!) will actually be missing out on a substantial amount of new content, it seems a rather strange business model to adopt.....why not 'vote with your mouse', as I've done, and use one of the others such as Microsoft's Bing, or DuckDuckGo, which offers private searches...Yu could even choose a combi-search product. That way you'll be sure of not missing anything novel that Google hasn't yet caught up with...or just thinks is beneath its notice !

For anyone with a Google sites website/blog, or contemplating setting one up, it’s well worth noting this discrepancy for future reference…but don't expect to fathom the nature of the Google indexing system - many have tried and failed in the past...including, I suspect, Google employees themselves (Does anyone really understand it ?)

First published 15.6.25

Revised 1.1.26

Figure 1: Garendon Park & Estate: Facilities Plan (Wm Davis/Persimmon 2015)