Next week, work commences on a solar farm south of Keelings Road, Dengie.

This will involve constructing an access road from Keelings Road to Asheldham Brook, which could be made suitable for cycle access.

From Asheldham Brook it’s only 2km to The Marshes, Southminster through land (Northwycke Farm) with a single owner: Lincoln College, Oxford.

A cycle route established on farm tracks through Northwycke Farm connecting with the solar farm access track would provide a safe off-road between the quiet lanes of The Marshes and Keelings Road – offering walk and cycle connections for Southminster, Asheldham, Dengie and Tillingham avoiding the B1021.

At Southminster it would link with the proposed Burnham-on-Crouch-Southminster cycle route, connecting Dengie villages with Burnham. [Connecting Bradwell-on-Sea to this route is a desired next step].

This would be a better path for the ‘Mid Essex Route Cycle Route 12’ presented in the recent Essex Cycling Strategy, which used the B1021 and featured no mention of footways, cycle paths, cycle segregation, or other means of making the route safer.