Have your say on who should be immortalised

A "portrait bench" featuring three life-size figures cut from sheet steel is to be installed in Killamarsh to celebrate Rotherham Borough Council and Sustrans securing a £500,000 grant to enhance the rights of way around the Rother Valley Country Park and Chesterfield Canal area.

Rotherham people are being asked to vote for their favourite character from four nominations - Sir Donald Bailey, OBE, the inventor of the Bailey Bridge; local football legend Herbert Chapman; Colin Savage, a lifelong local access champion; and Howard Webb, MBE, the World Cup Final referee.

Sustrans, the charity geared to sustained transport, is placing a bench at each of its Connect2 projects across the UK. Connect2, which was awarded £50million by the Big Lottery Fund in 2007, is geared to creating new everyday walking and cycling routes, including the Halfway to Killamarsh scheme.

Residents in each of the three local authority areas will be selecting one character each, and in North Derbyshire Corporal Liam Riley, a 21-year-old who lost his life in Afghanistan while trying to save a friend, has already been selected.

The work - to improve walking, riding, cycling and family trails in the area - is progressing well and project partners in Sheffield City Council and Derbyshire County Council are also progressing their parts of the joint scheme.

The main project will provide a multi-user trail between the Halfway Tram stop in Sheffield to Rother Valley Country Park, creating two new bridges and providing a route avoiding a very dangerous section of road in Derbyshire. Many miles of access around the Chesterfield Canal in Rotherham will also be greatly enhanced by the work.

Rotherham Borough Council's Rights of Way team, with help from local people, secured a grant of around £500,000 to enhance walking, riding, cycling and family trails around the Rother Valley Country Park and greater Chesterfield Canal area.

This grant is very significant, as it effectively doubles the rights of way budget and extends until 2013.

Discover more about how this is affecting local countryside access.