Tenterden's only cycle route gets 650 metres of new surface from October, funded by the Active Travel Fund. It will be shut for about four weeks.

Tenterden’s only designated cycle route is to be resurfaced from October, in a £150,000 scheme Kent County Council says has been pressed for since at least 2018.

The Colonel Stephens Greenway runs along the old railway trackbed between St Michael’s and Tenterden town centre. Kent County Council will resurface 650 metres of it, working with the contractor Ringway. The money comes from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel Fund (Kent County Council, 28 August 2026).

Work starts in October, subject to weather, and is expected to take about four weeks.

The scheme includes:

  • a three-metre-wide shared-use path for walking, wheeling and cycling
  • new surfacing to make the route usable in all weathers
  • fencing at points where the council has identified safety risks
Colonel Stephens Greenway resurfacing: the scheme in numbers Key figures for the Colonel Stephens Greenway scheme: 650 metres resurfaced, a path three metres wide, a cost of 150,000 pounds from the Active Travel Fund, a start in October 2026 and a duration of about four weeks. The Greenway scheme in numbers 650m 3m £150k Oct 4wks of path resurfaced width of the shared-use path from the DfT Active Travel Fund start, subject to weather expected duration Source: Kent County Council, 28 August 2026. Graphic by The Ashford Times

The route will be shut while the work is done

This is the detail to plan around. Kent County Council says that for safety the route will be closed while the work is carried out, and that walkers and cyclists will be diverted via the estate roads.

For a path whose whole value is that it is traffic-free, a diversion onto roads is a real loss for four weeks, and it lands in October rather than in the summer. The council says the timing was set on specialist environmental advice, to protect the route’s ecological features.

It has been on the list since 2018

The scheme was identified as a priority in a Sustrans audit in 2018 and again in Tenterden Town Council’s 2024 Highway Improvement Plan. The county council says it developed the work with Tenterden Town Council, Ashford Borough Council and community groups.

Spencer Dixon, Kent County Council’s deputy cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We’re pleased to finally be able to deliver these improvements to the Colonel Stephens Greenway. This is an important route for residents and visitors, providing a traffic-free connection between St Michael’s and Tenterden town centre.”

The town clerk at Tenterden Town Council, who is not named in the county council’s announcement, said: “The Town Council has been pressing for improvements to this important path for a number of years, so this really is wonderful news for Tenterden’s residents and visitors alike.”

What it means for you

If you walk, wheel or cycle between St Michael’s and the town centre, expect to be on the estate roads for around four weeks from some point in October. The council has not published a start date beyond the month, and has tied it to the weather, so it is worth checking before you rely on the route.

The Greenway also connects with National Cycle Network Route 18, so the closure affects longer journeys through Tenterden as well as local ones.

Once it reopens, the point of the work is that the surface should hold up in winter. That is the difference between a route people use in October and one they abandon until spring.

More local information: roadworks and travel around Ashford and things to do in Ashford.

Sources