A SHARED footpath and cycleway could be built along part of the old Bourne End to High Wycombe railway track - but a neighbour has raised concerns about the effect on the “delightful, natural oasis”.

Wycombe District Council has submitted plans for the new track on the disused railway embankment from London Road to Bassetsbury Lane.

It comes after plans to build park homes on the former Bassetsbury Lane allotment site were given the go-ahead.

A neighbour living on London Road, Ed Silvester, fears the new footpath and cycle track will do “nothing to improve” what is already a “natural oasis in the town”.

Objecting to the plans, he wrote: “The sanitisation of this space through the addition of a surfaced track, stairs and a ramp, will damage forever the atmosphere of the place and it’s relationship with the neighbouring nature reserve.

“Creating a surfaced, paved, or gravelled track is not an improvement but an unnecessary act of urbanisation, that could result in reducing this asset to an urban footpath.

“As a neighbour and daily user of this path, it is already functional and this proposal is to the detriment of our town and its few precious remaining unspoilt places.”

The council says the plans will see an all-weather combined footpath and cycleway installed which will improve the current “muddy track bed surface” and allow those who are disabled to use it.

New access points will also be added along Bowden Lane and Sierra Road.

There could also be other access points into the car park of the proposed new Lidl supermarket at the old Homebase site as well as another to the planned new park homes estate on the disused allotments site.

Some trees in the area could be removed to create the new access points - but new planting will be added.

The council added: “Overhead lighting will be installed to ensure it is safe to use at night, and to reduce the risk of anti-social behaviour.”