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Hampshire County Council has opened surveys for residents, businesses, commuters and visitors to submit their views on the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs).
LCWIPs for the boroughs of Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Eastleigh, and Southern Test Valley are currently out to consultation and will close just before midnight on 31st October.
Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for highway operations, said: “Hampshire County Council sees LCWIPs as a way to be aspiring and ready for future national funding opportunities to provide improvements in walking and cycling infrastructure, across the county.
“Since the pandemic began, we have seen more people walking and cycling as their preferred means of travel to work and for leisure. We would like to improve walking and cycling facilities and networks to encourage this continuing trend both for the health and wellbeing advantages and for the clear environmental benefits in reducing the number of cars on the road.”
The plan sets out a primary and secondary network of cycle routes together with walking zones for the main settlement centres. Future work will be required to identify more localised routes and zones.
Following on from Hampshire County Council’s Walking Strategy (2016) and Cycling Strategy (2015), the County Council has been working in partnership with active travel charity Sustrans and local authorities to develop LCWIPs that will help identify walking and cycling infrastructure at a local, targeted level.
LCWIPs enable a long-term approach (typically ten-year periods) towards developing local cycling and walking networks and form a part of the Government’s ambition to increase the number of trips made by walking and cycling as part of its Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
Oppenheimer added: “Having an LCWIP in place means that the County Council is in a much better place to bid for funding towards the improvement of walking and cycling related facilities. LCWIPs which can also link with other strategic planning documents, such as Local Transport Plans and Local Plans, are evidence-led, so gathering relevant information and local views at an early stage is an important step in establishing a successful cycling and walking infrastructure network.”
