Category Archives: News

Consultations, News

St Helens Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan Consultation

St Helens Borough Council have recently commissioned City Science alongside Civic Engineers last December to produce a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for the Borough. This will be the first local Borough LCWIP following on from the strategic Liverpool City Region LCWIP, originally produced in 2018.

The LCWIP will cover all of the St Helens Borough, however, will focus on identifying proposals aimed at improving active travel connectivity between the key settlements and communities of St Helens, Blackbrook & Haydock, Newton-le-Willows & Earlestown, Rainford, Billinge, Garswood and Rainhill. It will also focus on connecting local routes with the proposed strategic routes identified in the Liverpool City Region LCWIP. The programme of the St Helens LCWIP will run until around September 2022 and will include a public consultation process in early Summer on draft network proposals.

As part of the initial Evidence Base (Stage 2) process, City Science have asked for members of the forum to input into a 5-minute online survey (available from this link) to collate some of the key network-wide opportunities and constraints. Please note that this survey needs to have been completed by March 9th at the latest.

They are also running an in-person site visit event on Wednesday 2nd March 2022 and would welcome people coming along to this as part of a walk or cycle to experience the network across the Borough. If you are interested in attending this, please contact City Science directly via email (Elliot.reid@cityscience.com).

Consultations, News

West Derby Road Consultation

Liverpool City Council has a proposal for a temporary cycle route on West Derby Road, to replace the one previously removed.
Closing date for comments Friday 7th January 2022
https://liverpool.gov.uk/wdrcycling

The main danger point for cyclists is crossing Sheil Road

The consultation is badly designed, with only the options of either agreeing with the plan or disagreeing with it.

The design for crossing Sheil Road creates dangerous condition for cyclists.
Cyclists join West Derby Road on a cycle lane segregated with wands and into a bike box at the traffic lights.
The width if the cycle lane is not marked, it’s impossible to know if it will be a safe and useable width.
Cyclists are now to the left side of left-turning motor vehicles with obvious potential conflicts. A cyclist carrying straight on is in danger of being hit by a left-turning motor vehicle.
Across the other side of the junction a segregated lane is marked as 1.25m wide, which is below the standard for cycling next to fast moving motor vehicles.

The junction needs dedicated traffic lights for cyclists and a cycle lane of 2m width.

As it stands, the only response to this consultation is to disagree with the creation of this cycle route.

News

Regent Road cycle lane update

The Regent Road cycle lane was almost completed 18 months ago, with the serious omission of the planned traffic lights on the Bascule Bridge.
The narrow width of the bridge meant the cycle lane could not continue across it, and the lights were to allow cyclists to cross the bridge safely.
Without the lights, cyclists have to either check the motor traffic and chance the road, or use the rickety wooden pathway.
The wooden pathway had fallen into disrepair and become dangerous, so MCC member Paul Rogers complained to Liverpool City Council (LCC) and put in a Freedom of Information request to find out why the route remains unfinished.

In response, LCC explained that the Bascule Bridge is owned and maintained by Peel Ports, and that LCC would raise the walkway issue with them. Some work has now been done on the walkway, but it is still uneven and slippery when wet.

On the issue of the traffic lights, LCC said that the contractor working on the scheme had gone into administration and that a new contractor would be appointed in “the next couple of weeks”. Dates of when the work will be done will be publicised after that appointment.

News

Cycle lane scrapped and Liverpool loses funding

In a stroke of true genius, Councillor Daniel Barrington had the inbound pop-up cycle lane on West Derby Road removed before waiting for evidence from his own review. The government’s response was to halt funding to Liverpool for other active travel schemes.

To prove that irony is not dead, Councillor Barrington is Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Transport and Environment.

Simon O’Brien, Liverpool City Region cycling and walking commissioner, said: “There were over 98,000 cycle journeys on the West Derby Road temporary cycle lane in Liverpool between July 2020 and July 2021. Bus times on the route not affected.”

West Derby Road is one of seven “pop-up” routes that were planned during the pandemic. Only three have been delivered, despite the second tranche of funding being awarded in October 2020.

Sustrans reports that 69% people in the city region support more segregated cycle lanes, even if it means taking space away from cars.

Councillor Barrington made vague suggestions for alternative routes, including using Newsham Park. He may not be aware that women in particular avoid cycling through dark parks at night, but then, his decision was not evidence-based.

The crash map shows road casualties on West Derby Rd in just five years (2015-19).

For more reading, see articles at Scallymag and Confidentials.