An active travel route connecting the communities of Hopeman, Duffus, and Covesea to Lossiemouth has just been awarded £20,000 funding from Sustrans Scotland’s Places For Everyone scheme to develop the design of the route.

The path connecting Hopeman to Lossiemouth was part of a larger scheme in 2007 to ‘tackle the school run’, which saw a feasibility study completed to offer a safe route for students to walk, cycle, or wheel to Lossiemouth High School from the school’s feeder communities. The route was completed, but only from Burghead to Duffus, offering a fantastic leisure route, but not reaching the intended destination or fulfilling its intended purpose.

This £20,000 from Sustrans will fund a consultant to complete a detailed design study of the route, including completion of a topographical survey; an Equalities Impact Assessment; a road safety audit; an ecological appraisal; and a survey of utilities, drainage, signage, line markings, signalling and lighting requirements for the chosen route. This information will help inform the proposed budget of completing the project, which will allow us to seek further funding to see the project through to fruition.

It is envisioned that this route will offer the opportunity not only for children to get to and from school, but for employees to commute to their places of work, and for tourists to be able to safely walk, cycle, or wheel to and from attractions such as Covesea Lighthouse, Silver Sands, and TwentyNineteen café. Residents of the community at Covesea will also benefit from a better connection to their local amenities, including shops, medical centre, and pharmacy; as well as a connection to the bus routes to Elgin.