Active travel plans revised to reflect public feedback

Public feedback on ambitious plans to improve walking, cycling and wheeling infrastructure in Wirral has helped shape revised proposals that will be considered by elected members next week.

At its meeting on January 27 2025 at Wallasey Town Hall, members of the Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee will debate a report updating them on the outcome of consultation on the proposed Core Active Travel Network (CATN) and be asked to approve the revised version of the CATN.

Among the most significant changes to the draft strategy is the shifting of the priority of some of the proposals to reflect concerns raised by residents. These changes will mean, in some cases, further assessment, gathering of data and community engagement will need to be carried out before proposals can be considered for implementation.

The CATN aims to establish a long-term, joined-up, comprehensive active travel network which will provide residents with a choice of safe travel options and is a key element in supporting the council to deliver the Places for People (PfP) strategy it agreed a year ago. Residents were asked for their views on the routes proposed in the CATN to allow the council to use their feedback to ensure the right routes, in the right places and given the right priority, are taken forward.

The Core Active Travel Network will help promote active travel use for short distance journeys and other everyday journeys and the proposal is for it to be introduced in a planned and phased manner up to the year 2032 initially, set within a wider, ambitious plan in the longer term. 

The network will ensure that routes across the whole borough are designed for people to travel safely to where they need to go whether that be by car, bike, scooter, public transport or on-foot. It will improve the existing the highway network for all by improving and delivering new infrastructure and public realm enhancements, improving connectivity and accessibility and supporting the wider regeneration, environmental and public health programmes that Wirral Council is committed to delivering.

A total of 1,130 comments were received during the consultation process, which ran between July 29 and September 23 2024. These were primarily through the council’s Have Your Say consultation platform, but there were 25 surveys submitted having been completed by hand and one ‘Easyread’ survey also considered. A further 33 comments by email or through the council’s online reporting system were also taken into account in the analysis of the responses.

All the comments from residents and the feedback from officers in relation to the points raised are all included in the report to be considered by members of the committee on January 27.

Should the network be adopted, this will support the council to access funding to support highway infrastructure  and regeneration improvements going forward.  Further engagement and consultation, including statutory consultation, would take place with residents and businesses to support the design of any schemes going forward and further committee approval would be required prior to any schemes being approved for delivery.