BURLINGTON HELPS DELIVER LOCAL COMMUNITY PROJECT

7/26/2011 5:07 AM EST

Being indigenous to the Lake District and Cumbria region, Burlington’s stone continues to attract interest from many local initiatives. Take, for example, Staveley Riverside. For this major £100,000 community–based project – involving the creation of a new bridge and 1.25km ‘miles without stiles’ circular riverside walkway – Burlington has supplied a substantial quantity of walling stone and base aggregates.

Indeed whilst the new walkway has only recently been unveiled following an official opening ceremony led by writer and broadcaster Eric Robson and National Park Chief Executive Richard Leafe, it is already being hailed a huge success.

For the scheme, which opens up accessibility to wheelchair users by providing a circular route from the village centre via the River Kent’s edge, Burlington has supplied some 200 tonnes of base Elterwater aggregate that has been used to create the new pathways. However the most prominent part that Burlington played in the project was the supply of 270 tonnes of blue/grey screened weathered walling.

As Burlington’s Landscapes Manager, John Atkinson commented: “Not only is the amount of stone significant in its own right, the walling was erected in record time. The friends of the Lake District came up with a really intuitive community based idea to hold their annual dry stone walling competition and aptly named “Wallathon” events at the site. Not surprisingly, all of the walling simply seemed to appear overnight and the meterage that was erected had to be seen to be believed.

“On a more serious note, the project at Staveley is true testimony of what can be achieved when a number of stakeholders successfully come together. Here we see businesses such as Burlington working with the Lake District National Park, Nurture Lakeland, The Friends of the Lake District and the Dry Stone Walling Association to deliver a part Lottery funded project that will bring a great deal of pleasure to both the local community and visitors to the area for many years to come,” he added.

Following the opening on the new bridge and all-weather riverside pathway Eric Robson and Richard Leafe were joined in the celebrations by national park members, local councillors, community leaders and pupils from Staveley Primary School. Before the walk began the pupils unveiled their own “inter-active” information board beside the bridge and walkway.

Eric Robson said the bridge “looked fantastic” and was a credit to all partners and so many organisations that had pulled together extremely well to ensure the bridge and pathway were completed. He was sure it would quickly become a key part of village life.
-ENDS-

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