CHESHIRE West and Chester Council has secured more than £600k funding to implement more active travel schemes across the borough.

CWaC has confirmed it will receive £611,800 as part of 'Tranche 2' of the Government's Emergency Active Travel Fund pot.

It comes following the awarding of £181k to CWaC from 'Tranche 1' earlier this year, which was used for fast-tracked schemes in Chester such as works on Grosvenor Bridge and controversial travel lanes on the A51 Boughton and the A5116 Liverpool Road.

Crucially, the Government's criteria for 'Tranche 2' requires local authorities to engage with local communities before the schemes are finalised and installed.

This is a significant change from 'Tranche 1', where the Government gave local authorities including CWaC just a few days to apply for funding for earmarked schemes, and for those schemes to be activated within weeks, limiting the time for consultation.

CWaC says it made an ambitious bid to reflect the many ideas and suggestions that communities made over the summer via the Walk Ride Thrive Participate Now portal and in relation to the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.

Funding will go to permanently reallocate roadspace to active travel.

However, as less funding has been awarded than was bid for, the schemes and activities will need to be prioritised for delivery to reflect the available finances.

This time the proposed priority schemes are outside the Chester area, and affected communities will be asked to co-develop and help deliver them.

They are:

Northwich

  • B5153 Northwich Road (part) – segregated cycleway facility linking Hartford and Weaverham serving local schools
  • A559 / A533 (part)– improved cycleway links to Northwich town centre

Frodsham to Helsby

  • A56 corridor (part) - segregated cycleway facility, footway enhancement and controlled crossing facility providing links to Helsby High School

The secured funds will also provide additional cycle training opportunities, the development and promotion of a Park & Cycle offer and the exploration of innovative digital applications (initially aimed at school trips) to complement the wider active travel programme.

Councillor Karen Shore, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, highways and strategic transport said: “Increasing cycling and walking opportunities is considered essential to help address some of the most challenging issues that we face as a society including; improving air quality, combatting climate change, improving health and wellbeing, addressing inequalities and tackling traffic congestion.

"There is an emphasis placed on the need to increase health benefits from more physical activity and the longer-term benefits of this to the NHS. I therefore welcome this additional investment.

“In contrast to the significant constraints imposed on Tranche 1 funding, it is notable that government has advised that it is now more important that these new schemes are delivered robustly, and that community support is established than being delivered rapidly.

“This fully aligns with the council’s own common approach to the co-development of schemes with our communities, and within appropriate timescales.

"We will now approach local representatives of the communities that are set to benefit from our prioritised schemes, to agree the precise form of engagement that will generate and gather a truly representative picture of local views.

"We hope that these communities will then continue to help us through the delivery stage and encourage widespread use of the new facilities.

“The newly formed independent Sustainable Transport Taskforce will also be invited to support and review our plans for stakeholder engagement on these schemes.

“It is important to note that the complementary cycle training, Park & Cycle and the digital applications will be available to communities across the borough and further details on how residents can access those initiatives will be announced in the new year.

"I also want to advise that while the Tranche 2 funding is finite and we are only able to deliver a small number of schemes, the Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan adopted in the summer does represent our 10-year strategy and we encourage all communities to work with us in exploring how these other schemes can be delivered.”