Linking St Ives and Lelant
Every Mile Matters because the Path has the power to connect people with local businesses and communities
Photo by Dan Westbury
St Ives is a hugely popular tourist destination, attracting thousands of visitors a year with its beautiful beaches and places of interest like the Tate St Ives art gallery and Barbara Hepworth museum. This part of the Coast Path has excellent potential for easy day walks in the surrounding area, linked to public transport. The stretch between St Ives and Lelant offers magnificent views across the turquoise St Ives Bay and the stunning Porthkidney beach and connects three railway stations – St Ives, Carbis Bay and Lelant.
However due to poor drainage and muddy conditions, the relatively level section of Path between Lelant and Carbis Bay stations is often overlooked, leading businesses and communities in the areas surrounding St Ives to miss out economically.
What we are doing
Working with Cornwall County Council, we are improving steps, surfacing and drainage to ensure that the off road section of the Path between Carbis Bay and Lelant is usable all year round and that the quality of experience for users is significantly improved, making it a more popular day walk.
How it will help
Improvements to this section means that more day visitors will be able to use this section of the Path all year round, taking advantage of the excellent public transport links and bringing increased footfall and more business to the areas and communities surrounding St Ives.
Total project cost: £25,743
Association contribution: 20%
Partners: Cornwall County Council
Date completed: due for completion by Spring 2021
This project was funded with support from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas. Thanks to supporters of the South West Coast Path Association, we have been able to allocate £100,000 to leverage in £750,000 worth of improvements across the Trail as part of the RDPE programme 2019 - 2020.
