Have your say on Wirral’s proposed active travel network
A network of routes across Wirral which help people to travel around the borough – whether by foot or on wheels – is being developed.
The aim is to ensure people have safe, direct and high quality walking, cycling and wheeling routes for local day-to-day travel around where they live and work.
Wirral Council wants to provide routes where they are most needed such as by connecting residential areas to shops, workplaces, schools, leisure activities and stations to make everyday journeys easier and give people more options in the way they want to travel.
To do this, we are proposing a Core Active Travel Network (CATN) – a network of routes to be looked at over the next 15 to 20 years to ensure the borough is well-connected for residents no matter how they want to travel. The network combines new active travel proposals, existing routes and those the council is already working on. Any new active travel proposals will be subject to funding and further consultation.
To help ensure this network reflects the needs of people in communities across Wirral, a consultation is taking place asking people for their views of the proposed core network routes – if they are the right routes and the timescales for when they should be looked at for development.
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paul Stuart, said:
These are not necessarily routes that people will walk, cycle or wheel the whole length of every day – instead the aim is that parts of them can be used to suit a variety of different journeys for different people.
Allowing people to use other means of transport, and providing infrastructure for them to be able to do so, is one of the key ways that we can make sure that more of our residents and visitors can get to the places that they need to be and it also helps support our promotion of healthier choices.
This consultation will play an important role in how the council decides on which areas to change and update in the coming years so we need as many people as possible to give us their views on the routes being proposed – tell us will they help people where you live to get to the places they need such as shops, maybe the doctor or health centre, station or are there better routes.
The consultation includes a map with an overview of the proposed CATN which will include existing routes (where possible). In addition, the council has already received funding for some routes that are currently being designed or progressed and they are included within the map.
Within the survey, residents can tell the council:
- If these routes will support people’s everyday journeys
- What people think of the proposed prioritisation of the routes
- If there are any existing routes on any of the core network that require improvement
- If there are routes that are missing and need to be added
Visit the council's Have Your Say website to provide your feedback.
The feedback from this consultation will be used to decide on the final Core Active Travel Network, subject to approval by Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee.
Once a CATN is agreed, before any individual projects are progressed, further public and stakeholder consultations on their details and design will be undertaken. Feedback from consultations will be carefully considered by the council before making the decision regarding what will be delivered.
The CATN will be regularly reviewed to make sure it is still relevant, focussed on the best routes and ensuring it fits with current and future local area networks.
