Worcester City Council Active Travel Plan

Campaigns
Written By Dan Brothwell

Worcester City Council have been developing an active travel plan for 2023-25, which is likely to be approved at the Health and Wellbeing Committee meeting on Monday 12th June 2023;This is great news, with the bold aim of creating modal shift from cars to cycling and walking to hit the central Government target of 50% of urban journeys to be by active means by 2030.The information is presented in two parts, a report to the committee, which provides context and background information, and the Active Travel Plan. Important context is the split of the remit between Worcester City Council and Worcestershire County Council: some elements require close collaboration and an individual council can't make changes without support and alignment with the other.The plan itself is summarised below:

  • Worcester City Council-owned e-bikes
    • Internal campaign to increase use by staff
    • Staff who have completed Bikeability training can rent for free at the weekend
  • Staff commuting
    • Bikeability training for staff
    • Promote the SHIFT scheme internally (cycling incentive scheme)
    • Promote the Cycle to Work scheme (procurement of reduced-cost new bike)
    • Include Active Travel section in employee induction
    • Improved provision of cycle parking facilities for staff
    • Procurement of e-cargo bike
  • Town investment fund
    • Deliver the Active Travel Project within the Town investment plan
  • Partnerships
    • Work with the County Council to support the development of the LCWIP (Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan)
    • Build relationships with partners, including attending the County Council Active Travel Stakeholder Forum
  • Wild About Worcester Way
    • Support WEG to launch and promote the Wild About Worcester 12-mile circular leisure route
  • Communications
    • Update City Council website to include an active travel page
    • Use social media to promote active travel
    • Create a walking distance radius map
    • Support the promotion of partners active travel initiatives
  • Community engagement
    • Investigate incorporating / promoting active travel at large events such as Worcester Show or Victorian Fayre
    • Investigate expanding the use of portable cycle parking at all City Council events
  • Travel to School
    • Encourage schools to become ModeSHIFT star accredited
    • Provide advice to schools to support implementation of innovative cycling and walking initiatives
  • Cycle parking
    • Investigate the introduction / improvement at parks, leisure centres and community centres
    • Update online information
    • Assess current provision and expansion of city centre parking
    • Investigate potential options for Park that Bike for businesses
  • Businesses
    • Support and encourage business to reduce emissions through active travel
    • Create a guide for local businesses
  • Leisure
    • Support key partners in promoting leisure walking and cycling routes

Bike Worcester would encourage City Council officers and councillors to convert the elements of the plan into SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound), which enables future progress checks and scrutiny.Bike Worcester has made genuine progress in enabling and encouraging modal shift in the city, implementing Bike Buses, Bike Recycle (with old bikes refurbished and going to parents and children who then use Bike Buses), Kidical Mass organised rides, and the SHIFT scheme. Some of these activities have received funding from the City and County Councils, but there is no mention in the Active Travel Plan.Bike Worcester has a positive and constructive dialogue with Worcester City Council, and we've previously shared ideas and suggestions, some of which are not included in the Active Travel plan, but should be considered:

  • Be bold and proud that the preference is for people to walk or cycle for short journeys (see examples below from other authorities)
  • More Councillors visibly travelling by bike, lead by example
  • Create councillor champion role, feeding into health, education, infrastructure, environment, economy and transport
  • Planned meetings with local advocacy groups
  • Identification of common short journeys where modal shift could be achieved; what barriers are there for people to change behaviour (eg. around schools)
  • Encourage schools to implement School Street trials
  • Set targets for active travel increase, measure journeys (counters / surveys) and report on progress
  • Allocate budget for low cost improvements. Create open system for public to contribute to suggestions
  • Promote SHIFT scheme to local businesses
  • Campaign with West Mercia to reduce road danger
  • Provide safe route for cycling North / South and East / West through the city centre. In the short term this can only be to change the daytime prohibition of cycling on High Street to Share with Care, or Pedestrian Priority
  • Support the provision of additional facilities for young people (city pump track, space for skateboarding)
  • Ensure all road modifications aim to provide improvements for cycling and walking, not an after thought after the consideration of cars, or not considered at all
  • Use of Strava metro data

More suggestions can be found here; feel free to add your own in the Comments and we'll keep updating the post.The plan is a good step in the right direction, but we can be more ambitious. The City Council has tried to implement modal shift previously, as part of the Choose How You Move programme back in the 2000's, with limited success; we must learn from this. The potential in Worcester is however massive, some more info here.The County Council has been given a score of zero by Active Travel England, based on implemented infrastructure, planned infrastructure, and political leadership. Whilst the City Council is not responsible for Highways, unless it is demanding a change in approach from the County, alongside a long list of desired changes to infrastructure to enable modal shift, it is complicit in this rating. Bike Worcester is concerned that the County and City continue to fall behind other authorities with regard to active travel provision, and as such are failing everyone who lives, works and visits the City and County.We're really keen for the plan to be dynamic, rather than written once and put on a shelf. The initiative needs to be regularly revised as we learn from our own experiences and what works in other authorities, with input from stakeholders, and the public, whose habits we are trying to change. It requires leadership; the question is can the new leaders of the City Council make it happen, and improve Worcester for everyone?

Dan Brothwell

Dan loves cycling and music, and he never leaves home without a bluetooth speaker. Ask him to play your favourite song!

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