TOWN Hall chiefs are to be asked to approve Warrington’s fourth Local Transport Plan (LTP4) providing a vision of a town that will be a thriving, attractive, accessible and well connected place.
It will have popular, high-quality walking, cycling and public transport networks supporting a carbon-neutral future.
The document will be presented to the borough council’s cabinet on Monday, December 9 by Cllr Hans Mundry, lead member for highways, transportation and public realm(pictured below).
It replaces a plan adopted in April 2011.
The new vision seeks to provide people with a choice about how they travel for each journey, reduce the need to travel by car, improve access to the town centre , develop an efficient transport network, reduce traffic congestion, reduce transport emissions, improve all transport infrastructure, encourage healthier lifestyles, improve highway safety and make Warrington a more disabled-friendly place.
Fundamental to this will be reducing the use of the private car. Currently, almost 75 per cent of commuter trips are made by car and the aim is to reduce this to 60 per cent by 2041.
Warrington’s compact size and fairly flat terrain offers a great opportunity for journeys to be made by walking and cycling so the council is developing a local cycling and walking infrastructure plan. But the authority is also investigating a new mass transit network that would connect residential areas with the town centre, employment sites and key hubs such as bus and railway stations.
A public and stakeholder consultation was held over nine weeks during the summer, concurrently with the consultation on the controversial Draft Local Plan. Some 400 responses were received.
The document concedes that feedback from the consultation did not appear to show support for LTP4’s vision statement. But it points out that a significant number of comments received related to proposals for growth in the Draft Local Plan and the role of LTP4 in supporting that growth.
Cllr Hans Mundry
However there was strong support for the LTP4 objectives intended to help support the vision statement.
There was a strong level of support for walking and cycling improvements and for highway improvements that support existing bus services. While support for developing a mass transit system was less clear cut, the largest proportion of respondents were in favour of further feasibility work taking place, particularly those aged under 35 and over 64.
Cllr Mundry is recommending the cabinet approve LTP4.
He said: “One of the challenges that we have faced in the development of the plan has been tackling the impact of local air pollution that is caused by emissions from road vehicles. This has a detrimental impact on people’s health in Warrington, particularly in locations close to the major roads in and around the town centre.
“Congestion in these locations contributes to high levels of nitrous oxides that exceed national standards. Another challenge that we are aiming to tackle is reducing emissions from our transport network of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.”
