Leicestershire County Council LCWIP's
ITP was commissioned by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) to undertake an options appraisal study and develop concept designs to inform the development of four Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for Melton Mowbray, North of Leicester, Loughborough, and the South of Leicester.
Using a bespoke audit proforma developed for the project from best practice guidance including the Walking Route Audit Tool (WRAT), The Cycling Level of Service Tool (CLoS), LTN 1/20, Healthy Streets and Inclusive Mobility, ITP conducted audits of local cycling and walking networks. The audits recorded information on existing conditions for cyclists and pedestrians, including route maintenance and infrastructure provision, taking into consideration the qualities that make a route more attractive to specific user groups, such as clean streets with good lighting and passive surveillance, green infrastructure and rest stops.
GIS spatial analysis identified which routes on the networks serve key destinations where LCC aspires to grow cycling and walking levels, such as schools, employment hubs and local growth allocations. The routes connecting to these ‘key locations’ which had the lowest level of existing provision (indicated by a low audit score) were selected, broken into segments and subjected to a second round of auditing using the Healthy Streets proforma.
A number of these scheme proposals were selected and taken forward to concept design stage using 2D AutoCAD and a high level cost estimate was drawn up alongside detailed descriptions of each scheme. Continuity of provision was considered in the final selection, ensuring that whole routes were taken forward to design stage rather than scattered segments across the network. To measure the impacts of the proposed schemes, post-intervention Healthy Streets audits were conducted against the concept designs, with a view to tweaking designs further at preliminary design stage to further enhance their performance and the level of improvement they deliver for cycling and walking. All schemes demonstrated a significant level of improvement when compared to pre-intervention scores.
The final selection of routes will be taken forward by LCC for inclusion in the LCWIPs for each area and their delivery will improve pedestrian and cyclist safety, as well as the feasibility and attractiveness of using active modes of travel in the county.
Please get in touch if you would like to know more about how we can support your LCWIPs.