Foreword:

York is an ideal city for walking, wheeling and cycling; it’s pocket sized, has a good climate and is as flat as a pancake. We have a proud history of being a walking and cycling city, but in recent years we’ve seen a decline. Today our roads are jammed and people tell us that they don’t feel safe walking to work or cycling to school. On top of that we recognise that many of our pavements and cycle routes are not accessible for all users. Whilst vehicles will always have a place, it’s clear that we need to enable more people to choose to walk, wheel and cycle and make it the obvious way to move around.

Our Local Transport Strategy sets us a target of doubling the amount of walking, wheeling and cycling and this Local Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plan is a key enabler to delivering that transformation. The following pages map out our aspirational walking, wheeling and cycling networks, and demonstrate what we need to deliver in order to create safe, accessible and connected routes that enable everyone to choose active travel. The cycling routes and walking zones are prioritised to help us understand where we can bring greatest benefit in terms of improving health, addressing climate change and providing more affordable and equitable transport options.

Having this plan puts us in prime position to bid for funding and to influence active travel connections to new developments. It will also guide us in making the most of opportunities to improve our active travel network during routine highway maintenance.

Many people have helped to develop this plan and I’m hugely grateful for all of the input from members of the public, our steering group, our consultants – Systra - and an immensely hard working team of officers. This plans gives us a glimpse of future York and now I’m looking forward to the next step of delivering the changes, to create that city where walking, wheeling and cycling are the norm.

Councillor Kate Ravilious.

1. Introduction

York has a long, proud, history of walking and cycling. York residents have walked, wheeled, used wheelchairs and cycled en masse to and from the confectionery factories, the rail carriage works and other large employers for decades. Our flat topography and relatively low rainfall, coupled with being a compact city with a vibrant City Centre, has traditionally led to high levels of walking and cycling. We have introduced extensive walking and cycling infrastructure across the city but much of it is now showing its’ age and is of a time when design standards were less ambitious and vehicle traffic levels were lower. Consequently, the whole range of active travel infrastructure we have needs reviewing, upgrading and adding to with new routes properly connecting our communities with where people want to go in today and tomorrow’s York.

In order to achieve the above, we have developed a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (abbreviated to LCWIP for the remainder of the document). This LCWIP represents an important step for York, it sets out our strategic ambitions for improvements to the active travel networks in the city.

Active travel is transport that involves physical activity, such as walking, wheelchair-use, wheeling (other wheeled mobility aids, scooters) and cycling, to get from one place to another. Active travel also forms an important element of longer journeys using other forms of transport such as bus and train – these are known as multi-modal journeys. It is often a more affordable, reliable, convivial, quicker, healthier and low-carbon way to travel which helps to improve wellbeing, reduce traffic congestion, improve travel safety and improve air quality.

The LCWIP aligns with our Local Transport Strategy and Movement and Place Plan Framework to provide a long term infrastructure plan to meet our aspirations and a plan that befits a modern city, where convenience, safety and journey time hold far greater influence on travel choice than they once did. If we are to see a return to the levels of walking and cycling that we once took for granted, we need major reallocation of road-space to sustainable travel, as well as significant investment in active travel infrastructure, development of the skills required to effectively and sensibly implement new and improved routes plus a strong level of engagement and community support to ensure the whole city can benefit.

2. What is an LCWIP?

Our LCWIP is;

· An evidence-based document that;

o Outlines York’s strategic walking, wheelchair, wheeling and cycling networks.

o Identifies routes and areas that have the greatest potential to support existing active travel and enable new trips by active modes of transport.

o Considers prioritised areas for proposed improvements. The detail of these improvements, along with consultation on plans comes later, at the design stage of the process. In this document we are identifying the areas where we should focus design work on.

o Outlines where our priorities are for investment, to ensure we can position ourselves for any active travel funding opportunities.

o Focusses on active travel route development and infrastructure. We are developing a wider active travel programme which will contain information on cycle training, engagement, information provision and other key complementary initiatives to help people safely walk, wheel and cycle.

Our LCWIP is NOT;

· A detailed plan or proposal of exactly what will go where on each street in the city.

· A plan for how people could get into York from areas outside the York boundary; this could come from further strategic work with neighbouring Local Authorities and the Mayoral Combined Authority for York and North Yorkshire.

· A plan that covers cycle parking; we are developing a complementary cycle parking strategy to accompany this LCWIP in due course.

· A design-guide. Design guidance for active travel already exists in various forms and will be followed as we go through the scheme development process. The council will, however, shortly be starting the process of developing a new Highway Design Guide for York which will also cover active travel infrastructure.

Our LCWIP has been developed in line with Government guidance using the process outlined below.

The Importance of Quality Active Travel Routes

Increasing the number of people travelling by cycling, walking and wheeling is critical to achieving a wide range of York-specific and national Government objectives, including public health and environmental outcomes. Choosing to travel by active modes helps people to increase their physical activity levels, which reduces obesity, improves cardiovascular fitness and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes[1].

Active travel has also been linked to improved mental health and a reduction in the number of preventable early deaths, such as those associated with obesity and poor air quality. A reduction in private car travel that can be achieved through more people walking, using wheelchairs, wheeling or cycling will be a key contributor to improving local air quality, reducing vehicle traffic congestion and achieving the national Government’s target of net zero carbon by 2050 as well as York’s net zero target by 2030.

Locally, we have an approved Local Transport Strategy that lays out ten policy focus areas. Infrastructure for pedestrians, wheelchair-users, wheelers and cyclists directly connects with all ten of our focus areas

Active travel infrastructure connects through to these ten priority areas in the following ways;

LTS Key Focus Area	Contribution of Active Travel Networks to Focus Area
Improve Accessibility	Existing active travel networks and facilities are in many cases not of the required standard to comply with the most up to date accessible design guidance. As a result, the existing facilities may discourage active trips or preclude some users from accessing them. Bringing the active travel networks up to the required design standards will help remove many of the barriers to active travel.
Improve walking, wheeling and cycling	Designation of strategic and local networks will enable resources to be better targeted to help achieve the required standard of facilities and also to create more joined-up routes. Both of these will enable more people to use active modes over motorised ones where appropriate.
Shape Healthy Places	To achieve the maximum take-up of active travel facilities they not only need to be fully accessible and connected but also be attractive, comfortable and safe. Taking a more holistic viewpoint when considering design will help maximise the ultimate uptake by active travellers, especially for users for whom active travel is not usually their default choice of mode.
Improve Public Transport	Public Transport users need to get to and from the start or end of their bus or rail journey, in many cases by using active modes therefore it is essential that those short start and finish sections are catered for and safe to use. Integration between Public Transport and active travel is critical to achieving a fully sustainable travel network.
Safeguard our Environment	Active travel is the most environmentally-friendly form of travel and makes a significant contribution to reducing congestion and improving air quality. Provision of improved active travel networks is thus essential to encourage take-up of active travel.
Develop a Movement & Place Plan	The development of this plan is a key enabler for expansion of and improvements to the active travel networks and without the improved networks it will be impossible to fully achieve the aims of the plan.
Reduce Car Dependency	Provision of safe, direct, connected, comfortable and attractive active travel networks will maximise the potential for modal shift from motorised modes to active travel.
Manage freight	Active travel does have a place in helping to decarbonise the final leg of freight deliveries through the use of cargo cycles, which have the ability to carry up to 250kg. Removal of large freight vehicles from busy people-focused environments will also help further enable active travel by creating a safer feeling environment for walking, wheeling and cycling. Provision of facilities and networks to enable active travel deliveries for the final leg of the journey are a key tool to enable this.
Effective Maintenance, Enforcement and Management of Streetworks	Streetworks will inevitably impact active travel networks when they occur on or close to routes. Providing a comprehensive network of active travel routes enables suitable diversions to be identified which enable users to continue to use active travel. Accommodating active travellers through Streetworks in a safe manner wherever appropriate is also critical to encouraging continued use of active travel. Active travel improvements can be coordinated with and delivered alongside our highway maintenance programme.
Monitor the transport network and finance the changes	It is essential to monitor use of the active travel networks to identify where facilities may need expanding or to identify other issues which are discouraging take-up of active travel such as safety concerns. Making funding available to create and maintain the networks is fundamental to maximising take-up. Monitoring the impact of any measures that are introduced is critical.

On our transport project work, we apply a hierarchy of transport users. Our hierarchy firmly places the future users of the infrastructure ambitions outlined in this LCWIP at the top of our priorities;

4. York’s Challenges & Opportunities

York has historically experienced above UK-average levels of walking and cycling due to its relatively compact size, favourable topography and selection of large employment sites close to residential areas.

Changes in employment patterns over the past thirty years along with increased levels of vehicle traffic on residential and traditionally quiet roads have resulted in a drop in levels of walking and cycling in parallel with growth in car ownership across the city.

Whilst walking and cycling levels still remain higher than average, they have been declining in recent years and need to be increased if York is to achieve its aims to be carbon-neutral by 2030, to reduce congestion, improve air quality and improve the health and wellbeing of the population.

There are several challenges which need to be overcome in order to be in a position to significantly grow active travel levels. These include physical, financial and political challenges.

There are many physical barriers to active travel across the council area including busy roads (and lack of safe crossings), relatively few river and rail crossings, the majority of which are shared with vehicle traffic, access barriers (which either deny access or make it much more difficult for several groups, including some with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010) and vehicle dominance of highway space specially on historic streets in or near the city centre where space is at a premium.

Work has already commenced addressing access barriers across the council area and £1M of funding has been allocated for the period up to 2028/29 to help achieve this. Work is also ongoing revising our processes for dealing with requests for improved crossing facilities with the ultimate aim being to approve many more sites than previously and deliver better connected, safe active travel routes.

Adoption of a new approach to auditing existing highway infrastructure following the “Healthy Streets” principles will ensure a wider range of factors are taken into consideration at all stages of scheme development and the end product should cater for a wider range of active travel users.

Routine highway maintenance offers an opportunity to create a rolling programme of improvements to active travel infrastructure over the coming years by upgrading what we already have.

Development of a new Highway Design Guide for York will help to ensure future infrastructure within new developments is designed and built to enable trips by active modes. We have also secured funding for a Movement and Place Plan which will outline priorities and major projects across the city, consistent with this LCWIP, that seek to prioritise sustainable modes of transport including creating continuous, quality networks for walking, wheelchair users, wheeling and cycling.

Creating networks which give active travellers the priority, safety and continuity they need will require significant reallocation of road space and investment over a sustained period of time. This LCWIP will help to create a pipeline of schemes which will be used to shape future bids for funding from national bodies such as the DfT and ATE and also regionally from the newly created YNYMCA.

Creation of the networks will also require long-term commitment from successive council administrations and cross-party co-operation, it will also require commitment from local Parish Councils, businesses and communities to help make York a healthier, safer and cleaner city.

5. Our Vision and Objectives

Our broad vision for walking, wheelchair-use, wheeling and cycling is outlined in the Local Transport Strategy; it reads;

“Improve walking, wheeling and cycling – so that cycling, walking and wheeling become more attractive and offer better alternatives to the car. Key to this will be creating a continuous network of safe and high-quality cycle, walking and wheeling routes, and giving all active travel users greater priority on roads and at junctions. Effectively integrating new modes like e-bikes into York’s transport network will also be important. These changes will achieve a doubling of active travel journeys by 2030.”

This LCWIP lays out our infrastructure aspirations. The extent to which these aspirations are achieved centres upon how much funding will be available and how successful we are at bidding for or securing grant money. Some funding has already been secured and the council has also allocated budget towards active travel measures. When more clarity on funding is forthcoming from settlements to funding bodies, such as the York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Active Travel England and the Department for Transport , we will confirm a focussed number of objectives centred on;

· Delivery of a sustainable travel neighbourhood (guided by the priority walking zones)

· Delivery of a radial active travel corridor (guided by the priority cycle routes)

· Delivery of a sustainable travel village (guided by the priority walking zones)

· Delivery of a City Centre Sustainable travel corridor

· Continuation of our barrier adaptation and removal programme

· Continuous upgrade of our active travel infrastructure via our highway maintenance programme, giving greater weighting to routes with potential to support high levels of walking, wheelchair use, wheeling and cycling, and using the maintenance programme as an opportunity to make minor upgrades to active travel infrastructure at the same time.

· A continuous programme of pavement maintenance (via our highway maintenance programme)

· Delivery of pedestrian and cycle crossings in the areas with greatest need.

· Adjustment of traffic signals to provide increased priority for pedestrians and cyclists at junctions and mid-block crossings.

· Developing a programme of school streets.

· A principles led approach to speed reduction, with a focus on creating safer roads for walking, wheeling and cycling.

6. Active Travel for All

It is incredibly important that everyone who lives in, or visits, York can travel around the city and surrounding area on foot, using their wheelchair, mobility scooter, rollator or other wheeled mobilities and by cycle. To ensure everyone can do this we will embed the principles of the DfT’s Inclusive Mobility - A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure and the DfT’s Local Transport Note 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design into our design and development work and our highway maintenance work. We will also give greater support to development proposals that incorporate these guidelines.

Our priority neighbourhood and route improvements must focus on ensuring that everyone can access and enjoy our city comfortably, safely and without barriers. Whilst this LCWIP focusses on the areas and routes that require constructing and upgrading to double the number of active travel users in York, there are numerous complementary activities that we are undertaking to ensure our current and future active travel routes are inclusive. These activities include;

· £1m investment in removing barriers to access; changing gateways to active travel routes to ensure they are compliant with current guidance.

· Investing some of our Active Travel England capability funding in targeted training for staff involved in planning, designing and delivering transport infrastructure.

· Co-design workshops with York Access Forum and the wider disabled community at early stages of scheme design to ensure the needs of end-users are integrated into the process at an earlier stage than they would previously have been.

· Adoption of “Healthy Street” audit and design principles to ensure schemes are safe, comfortable, logical and attractive to use.

· Creating a completely refreshed Highway Design Guide for York, prioritising active travel and incorporating the needs of disabled people.

· Designing our Healthy Neighbourhood projects to our hierarchy of transport users, which places disabled pedestrians and wheelchair users and non-disabled pedestrians as our top priority grouping, followed by disabled cyclists and non-disabled cyclists.

· Working with Active Travel England, the Department for Transport and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority to secure funding and develop the skills necessary to deliver as much of this plan as possible.

· Continuously taking the opportunity to upgrade our active travel infrastructure via our highway maintenance programme.

· Re-introducing micromobility hire to York, to give opportunities to people who don’t own a cycle or scooter to use this mode of transport in York.

7. A Walking, Wheelchair User and Wheeling Plan for York.

Identifying a strategic walking, wheelchair-user and wheeling network has required a bespoke approach. The guidance is far less well developed for the walking element of an LCWIP but, for York, people with protected characteristics, wheelchair users and wheelers are on top of our transport hierarchy with other pedestrians just below. We have, therefore, undertaken extensive work to ensure that we have comprehensive options and aspirations to deliver for our highest priority users.

The walking, wheelchair user and wheeling plan has undergone extensive development to ensure that we have recognised, across the whole York boundary, the main clusters of destinations people want to travel to on foot, by wheelchair, mobility scooter or other wheeled mobility aid, as well as those using pushchairs and scooters. A wide range of core destinations have been mapped and used as an indication of where active modes could replace short car trips. The destinations mapped cover the following categories:

· Schools, Colleges and Universities

· Healthcare sites

· Retail sites / local centres

· Employment sites

· Leisure facilities / places of worship

· Facilities (toilets, car parks, transport interchange points, blue badge parking)

Using the mapped destinations, 65 core walking, wheelchair-user and wheeling zones have been created to encompass those trip-generators. The zones have been spatially into three categories; Central, Suburban and Village to ensure as close to a like by like comparison as possible when prioritising. Prioritising city centre zones in the same category as villages will always skew investment into the central area; to meet our aspirations we need to work across the whole York boundary.

400 metre buffer zones have been created around each core walking, wheelchair user and wheeling zone to indicate the area within which a short active journey of the destination cluster. As can be seen in the image below, the core zones and their buffers cover virtually the entire built-up area of the city and surrounding villages.

Zone Prioritisation

Unlike the strategic cycle route network, which has a much less dense network of routes, it is easier to prioritise the walking, wheelchair-user and wheeling network on a zone-by-zone basis rather than by individual route.

Each zone has therefore been put through a sifting process and assessed against a variety of factors including;

· Number and size of destinations within the core zones and buffer zones

· Pedestrian casualties within the zones

· Accessibility within the zones

· Environmental / health issues within the zones

Several different permutations in terms of ranking of the above factors have been undertaken to assess the effect these had on the priority order. In many of those permutations the top scoring zones remained the same but may have been ordered slightly differently. The selected methodology puts slightly more emphasis on the number and size of destinations as a proxy for short car trips which could be replaced by active travel modes.

In order to ensure walk, wheelchair-user and wheeling zones which are away from the central area, and thus have fewer trip generators within them, are assessed on more of a level playing field it is proposed that a 3-tier approach be adopted which categorises the zones as being either central, suburban or village and that separate prioritisations then be undertaken within each of those tiers. This will then enable 3 separate workstreams to be developed to tackle zones across the entire council area more equitably. This complements the approach which is proposed in the Local Transport Strategy Implementation Plan of bringing forward demonstrator schemes in different types of environments. The strategy also proposes demonstrator zones which focus a significant number of improvements within one area, to bring about meaningful change in one area rather than a scatter of improvements across a wider area. This would then give similar types of area to those demonstrator zones a better idea of the types of intervention which may be applicable to them and to see how they function in reality. The top 12 zones in each category, not ranked are;

Central	Suburban	Village
City Centre North	Clifton Backies / Kingsway North / Water Ln	Stockton on the Forest Village
City Centre South	Melrosegate / Green Dykes Ln / University Rd	Bishopthorpe Village centre
Bootham / Clifton / Water End (E of Ouse)	Heworth Grn / East Parade / 6th Ave / 4th Ave	Strensall Village Centre inc schl
The Groves / Haxby Rd / Huntington Rd	Riverside paths south of city centre	Copmanthorpe Village centre
Gillygate / Clarence St / Wigginton Rd / Haxby Rd	Rawcliffe Ln / Eastholme Dr / Green Ln	Poppleton PT hubs, Northminster, Knapton
York Central / Salisbury Rd / Terr area	Acomb Rd / Hamilton Dr / Green Ln	Dunnington Village centre
Station / Micklegate / River Ouse quadrant	South Bank South and Racecourse access	Poppleton Village Centre
Foss Islands Rd / James St / Layerthorpe	Westfield School / York High area	Skelton Village
Holgate Road / Dalton Ter / The Mount / Albemarle Rd	Fulford area	Askham Bryan Village and College
A1079 (Tang Hall Ln - Walmgate Bar) plus Thief Ln / Hes Rd	York Rd / Front St / Acomb Green	Rufforth Village
Bishophill / South Bank / Bishy Rd shops area	Foss Islands Path East inc Metcalfe Ln	Askham Richard Village
Skeldergate Bridge / Tower St	Foss Islands Path West	Wheldrake Village

Zone / Route Audits

The first stage of assessing the facilities within each of the top-scoring zones will be to undertake an audit using a Healthy Streets-type approach and to identify where there are issues and potential solutions to make them much more accessible, safe and attractive to users.

Typical Improvements to Walking, Wheelchair-user and Wheeling Zones / Network

The types of improvements which could be rolled out on routes within each zone could include the following:

· Provision of upgraded or new footways/footpaths,

· Provision of new formal road crossings, where appropriate,

· Improvements to existing crossings in terms of giving more priority to those crossing the road and/or better facilities provided at the crossing,

· More priority for active travellers across side roads,

· Correct usage of tactile paving where it is needed,

· Widened footways,

· Removal of barriers / obstacles,

· Provision of more benches / resting places,

· Removal of pavement parking,

· Reduction of on-street parking where place-based enhancements can be made

· Better route signage / information in accessible formats,

· Improved lighting,

· CCTV coverage, where appropriate

· Improvements to pavement surfaces and drainage,

· Cutting back overhanging vegetation or verges,

· Improved planting shelter and shade,

· Removal of pedestrian guard-railing where appropriate,

· Adjustments to speed limits,

· Implementation of liveable neighbourhoods/ home zones where applicable.

8. A Cycling Network for York

Over the past three decades the Council has worked with cycling groups, local councillors and parish councils to initially identify, or latterly to review, a strategic cycle route network for the city. This work, however, pre-dated the development of LCWIPs and analysis tools such as the Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT). It also pre-dated the increasing popularity of electric cycles and adapted cycles, and the associated increase in distance that people are able to travel using this mode, plus increased breadth of user-groups able to consider cycling as a primary mode of transport. In order that the council are following a similar process to other local authorities to identify a strategic network we have, using previous work as our base, gone back to first principles and redefined the network using the new tools and guidance.

We engaged transport consultants, Systra, to help draw up the LCWIP for the city and they have identified a draft network using a combination of the PCT outputs plus analysis of additional non-commuter or education-related journeys to sites such as further and higher education, key city centre destinations (such as York Hospital and Rail Station) and future housing / employment sites identified in the draft Local Plan.

The PCT only considers cycle journeys accessing employment sites and education sites up to secondary school level. For both types of journey the consultants ran the “Go Dutch” scenario in the PCT which shows the potential levels of cycling for areas across the city which would be necessary to achieve levels of cycling seen in the Netherlands. From these outputs they were able to identify the routes which would give the biggest uplift in cycling levels by joining up areas of the city where there was the most potential. To identify other types of journey such as trips to the city’s universities and colleges, York Hospital and rail stations lines were drawn linking those sites to residential areas around the city and some lines of best fit established over clusters. A similar exercise was done with some of the larger sites designated for future housing and employment in the draft local plan.

Taking all the above into consideration a draft strategic network was identified. Consultation on that draft network was undertaken with a group of stakeholders in late 2023 in order to sense-check the network and identify routes which were considered critical but were not identified by the initial analysis. Following on from that consultation amendments were made to the network plans and the resulting network is shown as the Strategic Cycle Network on the plan below. In addition to the strategic network, a local network has also been developed which helps to fill many of the gaps which weren’t covered by the strategic network but were still considered to be valuable, such as routes to and between some of the smaller villages lying outside the main urban area and routes which also help facilitate cycle trips to many different types of destination including schools, healthcare sites, leisure facilities, shops, supermarkets and employment sites.

Strategic Cycle Route Prioritisation

To identify a priority order in which the strategic network could be delivered, or improved, it has been split up into 68 specific routes and these were put through an initial sifting process to assess each route in terms of the potential to address existing safety issues, health and environmental issues, to replace short car journeys and to address resident feedback from recent consultations. Following rigorous testing, a balanced approach has been taken to weighting the criteria rather than focussing on one of criteria categories.


Safety					Social
Cycle KSIs	Cycle KSIs/ km	Cycle Slight Casualties	Cycle Slight Casualties/km	Safe Streets York feedback	Transport-Related Social Exclusion	Potential to replace short car journeys

	Route Quality			Health
	Rate your route rating - Red	Rate your route rating, Amber	LTS Consultation Map Responses - Busiest part of link	Health	Air Quality

The top twelve ranked routes from the sifting process have been given an indicative cost and will be assessed for strategic fit with the Movement and Place Plan as it develops through 2025. There are two tiers within the top twelve projects but all are considered have significant value for the city.

Tier	Project	Cost (Low <2m, Medium (£2m-£5m) High (>£5m)
Top	Malton Road / Stockton Lane roundabout - Heworth Green - Monkgate - Deangate - Lendal Bridge - Leeman Road - York Central	Medium
Top	Bootham - Clifton (Bootham Bar to Rawcliffe Lane)	Medium
Top	Ouse Bridge - Micklegate - The Mount - Tadcaster Road - York College	Low
Top	Micklegate Bar - Blossom Street - Holgate Road - Hamilton Drive /Holly Bank Road junction.	Medium
Top	Land North of Monks Cross - Monks Cross - Vangarde - Malton Rd - Heworth Green - Monkgate - City Centre	High
Top	Rail Station - Lendal Bridge - Gillygate / Lord Mayors Walk junction	Medium
Second	Tang Hall Lane / Fifth Avenue - Foss Islands Path - Hungate - Aldwark - Lord Mayors Walk - York St. John University	Low
Second	Acomb Road (Manor Drive South - Fox junction)	Medium
Second	Tang Hall Lane - Foss Islands Path - Hungate - Ouse Bridge - riverside – York Rail Station	Low
Second	Copmanthorpe - Tadcaster Road - Blossom Street – York Rail Station	High
Second	Boroughbridge Road / Carr Lane - Water End - Clifton Green junction	Medium
Second	Water End to Skeldergate Bridge via Cinder Lane & Skeldergate	Low

A decision on the actual routes which will form the first phase for design and implementation has yet to be finalised and will be influenced by the Local Transport Strategy Implementation Plan and emerging Movement & Place Plan as well as economic and deliverability factors. Initial thoughts are to look at three demonstrator schemes, one along a radial route, one in a suburban neighbourhood and one linked to a village to give residents and other stakeholder groups a feel for the types of infrastructure which could be rolled out in similar areas to enable more cycling.

Route Audits

Some audit and initial indicative high level design work has been undertaken on a variety of different types of route (not necessarily the top priority routes) to give an idea of the types of issues which are currently present and to inform some high-level design concepts for each route. Examples of these high-level design concepts can be found in the Background Evidence Report’s annexes.

Typical improvements to the Cycle Route Network

The types of improvements which will be under consideration to create compliant routes include:

· Fully segregated cycle paths away from vehicle traffic and separated from footways,

· Lightly-segregated cycle lanes adjacent to the carriageway protected by physical means,

· Painted cycle lanes where appropriate

· Reduced speed limits where appropriate,

· Reallocation of road space away from motorised modes,

· Reallocation of on-street car parking and loading permissions, to prioritise safe cycle routes

· Diversion of vehicle traffic onto alternative routes,

· Removal, or as a minimum, redesign of access barriers along routes,

· Segregation from pedestrians wherever possible,

· Advance cycle phases at traffic signals at busy junctions,

· Inclusive solutions to cycle routes passing bus stops,

· More priority given to people cycling over vehicle traffic emerging from side junctions,

· Better route signing,

· Path widening where appropriate.

· Maintenance and vegetation management along cycle routes

[1] Walking and Cycling: latest evidence to support policy making and practice. World Health Organisation. Walking and cycling: latest evidence to support policy-making and practice