LCWIP Engagement Stage 2

1. Overview

An LCWIP is an evidence-based report which sets out a programme of improvements to enable more walking and cycling for everyday journeys and leisure trips. The improvements are prioritised on how they will make the biggest impact to increasing active travel. The seven Lancashire LCWIPs will enable the County Council and partners to:

• demonstrate a clear commitment to walking and cycling by identifying and prioritising infrastructure improvements
• build on previous improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure
• respond to demand by local communities for better facilities
• provide high quality infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population
• ensure that consideration is given to cycling and walking within both local planning and transport policies and strategies
• make the case for future funding for walking and cycling infrastructure, including Government grants and developer contributions

2. Implementation

The LCWIPs look ahead to the next ten years and identify a long list of potential schemes for further design and development. Subject to securing funding and the outcome of feasibility assessments, some of the highest priority schemes could be delivered within the next five years.

3. Reducing carbon emissions

Transport is the single largest cause of carbon emissions in the UK. A planned approach to cycling and walking infrastructure will support further investment in active travel and encourage people to travel more sustainably. This will contribute to reduced carbon emissions as well as lower levels of congestion and improved air quality.

4. Measurement

Data will be collected to support existing (local and national) targets and performance indicators. Data collection will include information on:

• Numbers of users/ levels of walking and cycling activity
• Safety (number of collisions, perception of risk)
• Infrastructure provision (length of routes, crossings, cycle parking spaces)
• Condition of infrastructure
• Satisfaction with facilities

5. How LCWIPs are different from a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP)

All local highway authorities are required to prepare a Rights of Way Improvement Plan and review this every 10 years. The LCWIP is not a required document but will cover a similar timescale. Both documents set out future plans for prioritising improvements, although the LCWIP covers all types of walking and cycling infrastructure whilst the ROWIP only covers
public rights of way.

6. Funding

The Lancashire LCWIPs will identify many potential walking and cycling schemes, for delivery by Lancashire County Council and its partners. To deliver schemes which make a real impact over the next 10 years, a substantial amount of funding will be required. Following the completion of the seven LCWIP Technical Reports, further work will be undertaken to estimate the costs of the schemes identified. The publication of the LCWIPs supports the case for future funding for walking and cycling infrastructure and will help to draw down external grants and developer contributions. This is additional to funds already allocated as part of Lancashire County Council’s cycling safety programme. Feedback from the survey will help us find out what local people think of potential schemes so that we can develop a long-term programme of walking and cycling improvements. It will help us make a better case for securing this funding in future.

7. Further development of designs of schemes

The Lancashire LCWIPs will provide an overview of walking and cycling networks and identifies potential routes and zones where more detailed studies are required. It shows indicative alignments for potential routes. More detailed drawings of potential routes will be shared during the development of individual schemes. This is normally once schemes have secured the funding needed to pay for engineering feasibility assessments to be carried out.

The Lancashire LCWIPs will identify possible types of infrastructure for each of the potential walking and cycling routes. When schemes are progressed, we will look to provide safe walking and cycling links for all to use, in line with best practice and latest guidelines.

8. Supporting biodiversity

The Lancashire LCWIPs will provide an overview of walking and cycling networks and identifies potential routes and zones where more detailed studies are required. When schemes are progressed, opportunities to support biodiversity will be considered – including verges/planting, sustainable drainage and rewilding. Ecological surveys and biodiversity plans will be prepared where appropriate.

9. Infrastructure for children and families

The LCWIPs will set out a future network of improved walking and cycling facilities, and this will support children by providing:

• Safer routes for walking and cycling, separated from motor traffic wherever possible;
• Links to key destinations used by young people including schools and colleges;
• New and wider paths that are more suitable for families with pushchairs and prams, as well as young children on scooters, ‘balance’ bikes, bike trailers and tag along bikes, and
• Facilities that support an active travel culture from an early age.

10.Public health benefits

The LCWIPs set out plans for a future network of improved walking and cycling facilities, which will provide new spaces for physical activity and wellbeing and create new opportunities for people to lead active and healthy lives.

11.Supporting tourism and local businesses

Research has shown that walking and cycling visitors often spend more and stay longer than people in cars. Transport for London has set out a series of reports, studies and evidence to present the economic benefits of walking and cycling. The draft network plan includes walking and cycling routes that link visitor destinations, including town centres, thereby supporting a more sustainable local economy. Some of the proposed cross-county leisure routes could become tourist destinations in themselves as people seekout the most attractive traffic-free routes along rivers, canals and through country parks.

12.Completing the survey

We welcome opinions and feedback from all members of the public. We would like to hear from people who live, work, study, do business, or visit the county. Your views, opinions and insight are valuable to us and will help shape the project. Please share the link to the online survey with anyone you think would be interested in taking part. If you have any issues in completing the survey, please email active.travel@lancashire.org.uk

LCWIP Network Plans and Prioritisation

13.Links to major transport projects and new developments

The LCWIPs will set out plans for a future network of improved walking and cycling facilities, which includes stand-alone walking and cycling projects and those which form part of larger highway projects and regeneration programmes. We want to ensure that recently completed projects are connected to the wider active travel network, which is why some projects will take a phased approach. The LCWIP network plans have considered residential developments and new employment sites where this land has been allocated through the local planning process.

14.Differences across the county

The network plan is a countywide plan, but the potential schemes do respond to differences between areas identified in the evidence gathering process. This includes differences in local population and health outcomes, numbers of road traffic collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists, physical barriers to movement, local viewpoints and tendency to cycle. This means that the proposals for schemes do vary, not only between boroughs and districts, but between large and small towns, villages and countryside.

15.Schemes delivered by third parties

The purpose of the prioritisation is to inform a future delivery programme led by Lancashire County Council. Potential schemes entirely in the control of third parties (including developers and organisations such as Sustrans, Canal and River Trust and district councils) were considered as part of the network planning process but have only been included on the plan if we believe they have the potential to provide significant benefits to the active travel network.

16.Accessibility to all users

Scheme designers will follow best practice and use latest guidelines. Equality Impact Assessments will be used to help identify impacts. Early engagement with local users will be sought wherever possible.

17.Urban areas

We have focused on developing routes within urban areas because this will help enable more cycling for everyday trips and/or to link with new developments that are likely to generate a significant number of new cycling trips. This does not prevent other cycling improvements from being progressed, particularly in association with new developments, safety schemes, highway works or leisure and tourism projects. The network plan contains a large number of schemes in rural areas, which could provide safe and attractive places for exercise and exploration. These mostly leisure routes include a mix of canal towpaths, country park paths, greenways, footpaths and bridleways. Improvements to accommodate horse-riding will be considered where possible.

18.Horse riders

The network plan includes proposals for cross-county walking and cycling routes. Improvements to accommodate horse-riding will be considered on these routes where possible. In addition, measures to improve safety of on-carriageway cycle routes such as road closures,traffic calming and slower speed limits, should also benefit horse riders. The Government’s LCWIP Technical Guidance for Local Authorities focuses on walking, wheeling and cycling for shorter journeys and does not reference horse riding.

19.Routes along disused railways and bridleways

The network plan includes a small number of routes using disused railways and bridleways. Although the LCWIPs are a 10 year plan, disused railway schemes and bridleway schemes often have a long lead-in time, and it would be unrealistic to include a larger number in the plan. Routes that have been included are usually locations where; land assembly is already in place; there is an existing route to be upgraded or extended; there is already local interest in the route development, including in previous engagement.

20.Signage

In order to meet the design criteria for ‘direct’ and ‘coherent’ routes, signage is really important – whether this is pedestrian waymarking and maps near key destinations, or cycle direction signs along quiet streets. We will look to include signage in new infrastructure schemes as well as review connections into the existing network.

21.Promotion for walking and cycling, and education and training

The LCWIPs are infrastructure plans, but it is widely recognised that infrastructure is only part of the solution in getting people to walk and cycle more. The County Council also supports the infrastructure programme with wider promotion and publicity, and road safety activities, including focused work with schools, workplaces and community groups.

22.Monitoring & Evaluation

Both quantitative and qualitative monitoring is taking place and will be developed further following adoption of the LCWIPs. Quantitative monitoring includes counts of users including ‘before’ and ‘after’ improvements,
thereby enabling evaluation against a baseline. Current monitoring technology allows sophisticated analysis of this data including movement patterns by pedestrians and cyclists, and analysis of levels of use at different times of the day, week or year. Qualitative information helps to assess the impact on specific user groups. Surveys such as last year's LCWIP Engagement Stage 1 survey and other sources enable correlation and cross-analysis of responses from people who already travel actively and those that
don’t, and between users from different demographic groups.

23.Access for wheelchair users

Lancashire's walking and cycling infrastructure should be accessible for wheelchair users as well as people with other disabilities, people with prams and pushchairs, and users of non-standard bicycles, such as tandems and cargo bikes. Wheeling is now mentioned specifically in plans and reports by Sustrans and Active Travel England and we would like to make this more explicit in the final versions of the Lancashire LCWIPs, including within
the key challenges.

24.Next steps for the LCWIPs?

Consultation responses will be collated and analysed and the draft LCWIPs will be amended to reflect community views. A final report will be submitted to Council’s Cabinet for approval. The adopted LCWIPs will be used as the basis for a future walking and cycling programme. Our aim is to create a safe and attractive environment for walking and cycling, so that they become the natural choices for shorter journeys and outdoor recreation in Lancashire.