Guide to the plan to improve cycling and walking in BCP area

The draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) from BCP Council includes 30 potential projects that could be pursued to improve “active travel” experiences.

The proposed schemes have an estimated total cost of £110million.

The “priority delivery plan” presents a range of ideas from short-term changes, such as a secure indoor cycle parking facility at the Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole, to medium and long-term concepts, like a fully segregated cycle route connecting Christchurch and Bournemouth town centres via Tuckton.

LISTED: All the schemes in BCP Council's cycling and walking plan

The projects are dependent on funding and it is possible that not all of them will make it into the final plan.

At a more more localised level, “light touch” measures could be explored on more than 600 potential secondary routes, which would complement the larger schemes.

Investment could improve the route through Tuckton

What the council's transport chief says

Discussing the importance of the plan, Cllr Mike Greene, BCP Council’s cabinet member for transport and sustainability, told the Daily Echo: “It is recognising that there needs to by a significant shift towards cycling, walking and public transport if we are to first of all to comply with the requirements of government but secondly and maybe more importantly if we are going to avoid huge costs of congestion in the future.

“We are already a very congested region and that is set to get worse unless we do something about transport as our population increases, as it naturally will.”

The draft LCWIP document delivers honest assessments on the transport issues the conurbation faces.

It says the BCP Council area “experiences some of the worst traffic congestion in the country”.

Pre-pandemic, 56 per cent of residents drove five or more days a week and 15 per cent of travel to work journeys in the conurbation by car were shorter than two kilometres – more than 7,000 car journeys a day.

Producing the LCWIP is essential to kick on from the £79million of highways and travel investment from the Transforming Cities Fund, which is currently being delivered, the council said.

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“What we want to do is ensure that people at least have the choice as to how they want to travel,” said Cllr Greene. “Do they want to use their car or do they want to use a faster alternative?

“It is really important that we are honest about the difficulties that are faced at the moment and how they are likely to get worse if we do not act.

“There are elements in this which are less critical and there elements which are more critical.

“I think what I want to try to get clear is that the elements I want to see progress are the ones that will make a real difference to promote those safe, fast alternative forms of transport.

“Being pro-bike does not mean in any way that you need to be anti-car.”

Cllr Greene said it was important to consider the plan as a conurbation-wide package, with “little to be gained doing a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there”.

He said the list of projects in the draft document is “absolutely not exhaustive and absolutely not prescriptive”. He added: “They are the ideas we have at the moment.”

“You do not need to live on the main cycle network but you need to know you can get to it quickly and safely and that your end destination is near to the cycle network,” said Cllr Greene.

Sustainable travel campaign group

Lucie Allen, chair of BH Active Travel, said she was delighted to see the plan go out for consultation.

BH Active Travel is a BCP Council-wide group which has campaigned for safer cycling and walking infrastructure for years.

Ms Allen said the plan showed BCP Council was committed to providing a sustainable travel network which would make it much safer and more pleasant to get around on foot and bicycle.

“The number one barrier for potential cycling uptake is safety and the perception of safety,” she said.

The cycle lane on Wallisdown Road

“Providing a network of safe segregated cycle lanes – separated from motor traffic by a physical kerb, buffer zone or different level – along with routes through low traffic neighbourhoods or traffic filtered zones, will enable and empower many more people to cycle safely, reduce congestion and live healthier lifestyles.”

The plan includes the prospect of creating liveable neighbourhoods or low traffic neighbourhoods, a concept championed by national government.

Ms Allen said these where “crucial” to the success of the LCWIP and take up of active travel as not every road is suitable for segregated cycle lanes and there is not a need for them in all locations.

“For cyclists, including children cycling to school, low traffic residential roads with 20mph zones can successfully link the more major arteries,” she said.

“Many of these roads were not built for today’s level of traffic, and with the introduction of apps such as Waze and Google Maps, motorists are often taken down unsuitable residential streets to cut journey times, sometimes only by a minute or two.

“Filtering these residential areas not only creates a safer place for walking and cycling but returns the area to a community neighbourhood rather than a ‘rat run’.”

Ms Allen and Cllr Greene said the ‘linking’ of large projects being carried out from the Transforming Cities Fund to projects in the LCWIP was vital.

“We have all read comments from those concerned that the current lanes ‘aren’t used’ and are ‘empty’,” said Ms Allen.

Plans for new cycleway along Whitelegg Way in Bournemouth

“The fact is that the vast majority of the current cycle infrastructure in BCP does not meet the new design standard, which should create cycle lanes that are suitable and safe for people aged eight to 80, and beyond.

“The current lanes, which are are mostly painted white lines along the gutter, are not well connected and more often than not, ‘give up’ at tricky junctions and roundabouts – the scenes for most collisions.

“If you’ve ever cycled through Cemetery Junction in Bournemouth or New Inn Junction in Poole you’ll know how terrifying that can feel.”

Alongside work on the roads, the LCWIP sets out the concept for a secure cycle storage facility.

This move was backed by Ms Allen, who said a similar project in Bournemouth should be explored.

The active travel supporter said the LCWIP also covers improvements for pedestrians, such as ‘continuous footways’, where the ‘pavement’ extends across side roads, allowing pedestrians priority, make for smoother footways, which provide an easier walking sufrace, especially for the elderly and those with mobility issues.

Ms Allen described the promenade as the only “white elephant in the room”, adding that BH Active Travel hoped a long-term solution could be found to make the seafront route available to all for “safe, pleasant and unrestricted for everyone”.

Where are the plans?

A public consultation on the draft LCWIP is currently taking place.

Visit haveyoursay.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/lcwip.