Aim

To encourage people to switch to walking and cycling.

The Headlines

  • Investment: £3.64m
  • Project Sponsors: Leicestershire County Council
  • Start date: April 2015
  • Status: Complete
New tactile paving and crossing

New tactile paving and crossing

Cyclists on new facilities

Cyclists on new facilities

New crossing

New crossing

New shared footway with crossing

New shared footway with crossing

“By providing people with options to choose sustainable modes for everyday local transport choices we can help boost economic growth by facilitating access to local jobs. Sustainable transport can also influence the quality of our lives, the air we breathe, how healthy and fit we are, the money in our pockets.”

– Norman Baker, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (‘Creating growth, cutting carbon’ white paper 2011)

LSTF Hinckley cyclist footway

The scheme, based in Hinckley, will improve the experience of walking and cycling. The aim is to encourage people to switch to these modes of transport as is part of the wider Local Sustainable Transport Fund initiative initially funded through the Department for Transport. The 2011 white paper ‘Creating growth, cutting carbon’, explained how changes to local transport could cut carbon emissions and create local growth.

LSTF Hinckley new tactile paving crossing

The project will combine both hard measures designed to improve the experience of walking and cycling with soft measures designed to reassure and encourage the switch to these modes of travel. The primary focus will be on access to jobs and training whilst also supporting the areas retail sector and regeneration.

LSTF Hinckley new footway with crossing

This measure is part of a series of interventions targeting the South West of Leicestershire.  The other schemes primarily deal with providing infrastructure to support the growth in car travel.   This scheme, however, specifically aims to reduce the desire to travel shorter distances by car and thus frees-up the highway network for longer distance travel.

The proposals include pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, traffic calming, lorry weight restrictions, junction capacity/congestion and parking and traffic management improvements. To complement these infrastructure proposals ‘softer’ measures are also being implemented, such as education and training.

Project Outcomes

  • Total length of new cycle ways – 26.7km
  • Health benefits for residents who choose to walk and cycle
  • Reduction in CO2 emissions