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Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans: Wakefield

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The West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Wakefield Council are developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans for West Yorkshire.


What is the draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Wakefield?

In 2017 the Government published its first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (available online – click here to view it), which was accompanied by guidance for local authorities on ways to identify improvements for cycling and walking improvements, through the development of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans – known as “LCWIPs”.

More background information on LCWIPs can be found in the full document of the draft phase one LCWIP for Wakefield.


Why are we developing a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Wakefield?

Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans are being developed to help enable funding to be secured to construct all the improvements identified through this work. Although there is currently no guaranteed funding for the improvements in this draft phase one LCWIP, having a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan in place will help us decide what improvements to make and will help us make the case to Government for future investment in walking and cycling in Wakefield.


How are we developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Strategies?

We are developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans for Wakefield alongside each of the other constituent areas within West Yorkshire. Our approach follows government guidance, and builds on work to identify networks for walking and cycling already carried out by partners in the region.

A lot of work is needed to create a comprehensive Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan that covers all the urban and rural areas of Wakefield district and several phases of development are envisaged. The work underway now should be seen as the first phase of a longer term development process.

For this first phase of work, specific areas of focus were selected for walking and cycling based on a number of factors. Phase one of the LCWIP for Wakefield includes plans to improve walking into Wakefield city centre from the north and east, and plans to improve cycling provision into Wakefield city centre from the north and south.

For walking, Wakefield city centre was chosen as a focus area, in particular on journeys into the walking zone from the East Moor community to the east and Pinderfields Hospital. A particular issue that improvements to the walking environment could address is severance of communities to the north east of Wakefield by the A61 which acts as a ring road/bypass around the city centre.

A walking network map has been developed for Wakefield city and a programme of improvements for walking into Wakefield city centre from the north and east has been identified.

For cycling, routes into Wakefield city centre from the north and the south. In particular were chosen as areas of focus, to consider the traffic pinchpoints created by bridges over the river Calder for traffic from the Five Towns and south Wakefield.

To the north of Wakefield, there are proposals for a housing development at Snow Hill which could provide an opportunity to provide high quality cycling infrastructure to connect a new community, as well as a potential funding source for improvements identified by the LCWIP.

A network map of desire lines for cycling has been created, and the desire lines identified were then prioritised to identify which route should be assessed in more detail as part of this phase of work. Two routes have been assessed in more detail – Wakefield city centre to Newton Bar, and Wakefield city centre to Sandal and Agbrigg.

More information on the development process is provided in the full document of the draft phase one LCWIP for Wakefield which can be downloaded using the link below.


Documents


Engagement and next steps

Following a period of public engagement in autumn 2019, a report detailing the feedback received and the next steps is currently being produced. In the meantime, a short engagement summary can be found in the Documents and Plans section of this page.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Wakefield Council are developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans for West Yorkshire.


What is the draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Wakefield?

In 2017 the Government published its first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (available online – click here to view it), which was accompanied by guidance for local authorities on ways to identify improvements for cycling and walking improvements, through the development of Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans – known as “LCWIPs”.

More background information on LCWIPs can be found in the full document of the draft phase one LCWIP for Wakefield.


Why are we developing a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Wakefield?

Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans are being developed to help enable funding to be secured to construct all the improvements identified through this work. Although there is currently no guaranteed funding for the improvements in this draft phase one LCWIP, having a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan in place will help us decide what improvements to make and will help us make the case to Government for future investment in walking and cycling in Wakefield.


How are we developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Strategies?

We are developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans for Wakefield alongside each of the other constituent areas within West Yorkshire. Our approach follows government guidance, and builds on work to identify networks for walking and cycling already carried out by partners in the region.

A lot of work is needed to create a comprehensive Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan that covers all the urban and rural areas of Wakefield district and several phases of development are envisaged. The work underway now should be seen as the first phase of a longer term development process.

For this first phase of work, specific areas of focus were selected for walking and cycling based on a number of factors. Phase one of the LCWIP for Wakefield includes plans to improve walking into Wakefield city centre from the north and east, and plans to improve cycling provision into Wakefield city centre from the north and south.

For walking, Wakefield city centre was chosen as a focus area, in particular on journeys into the walking zone from the East Moor community to the east and Pinderfields Hospital. A particular issue that improvements to the walking environment could address is severance of communities to the north east of Wakefield by the A61 which acts as a ring road/bypass around the city centre.

A walking network map has been developed for Wakefield city and a programme of improvements for walking into Wakefield city centre from the north and east has been identified.

For cycling, routes into Wakefield city centre from the north and the south. In particular were chosen as areas of focus, to consider the traffic pinchpoints created by bridges over the river Calder for traffic from the Five Towns and south Wakefield.

To the north of Wakefield, there are proposals for a housing development at Snow Hill which could provide an opportunity to provide high quality cycling infrastructure to connect a new community, as well as a potential funding source for improvements identified by the LCWIP.

A network map of desire lines for cycling has been created, and the desire lines identified were then prioritised to identify which route should be assessed in more detail as part of this phase of work. Two routes have been assessed in more detail – Wakefield city centre to Newton Bar, and Wakefield city centre to Sandal and Agbrigg.

More information on the development process is provided in the full document of the draft phase one LCWIP for Wakefield which can be downloaded using the link below.


Documents


Engagement and next steps

Following a period of public engagement in autumn 2019, a report detailing the feedback received and the next steps is currently being produced. In the meantime, a short engagement summary can be found in the Documents and Plans section of this page.

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  • Share Can I please get an update on the details of the proposed cycle facilities along the new City Fields Ring Road and adjacent roads. The present system (such as it is) seems inadequate as it entails dismounts and crossing the busy road. on Facebook Share Can I please get an update on the details of the proposed cycle facilities along the new City Fields Ring Road and adjacent roads. The present system (such as it is) seems inadequate as it entails dismounts and crossing the busy road. on Twitter Share Can I please get an update on the details of the proposed cycle facilities along the new City Fields Ring Road and adjacent roads. The present system (such as it is) seems inadequate as it entails dismounts and crossing the busy road. on Linkedin Email Can I please get an update on the details of the proposed cycle facilities along the new City Fields Ring Road and adjacent roads. The present system (such as it is) seems inadequate as it entails dismounts and crossing the busy road. link

    Can I please get an update on the details of the proposed cycle facilities along the new City Fields Ring Road and adjacent roads. The present system (such as it is) seems inadequate as it entails dismounts and crossing the busy road.

    altofts dave asked over 4 years ago

    The A6194 Wakefield Eastern Relief Road (Neil Fox Way) includes cycle facilities designed in line with guidance that applied at the time of construction. The Council has no immediate plans to make any changes to the provision and has no funding currently allocated to allow any changes to be made. However, the Department for Transport has recently issued a new guidance document for the development of cycle infrastructure (click here to find out more [external link - opens in a new window]). All new cycle infrastructure will be designed in accordance with this guidance and all existing infrastructure will be reviewed. Any changes or additional measures to be added to existing provision will of course be dependent on the availability of funding. As ever we are heavily reliant on external funding streams, many of which are for a specific type of development.  

    Guidance from the Department for Transport for the Emergency Active Travel Fund (Tranche 2), indicated that it was not able to be used to widen existing footways for use by cyclists. Guidance was clear that meaningful reallocation of road space would be required to attract funding. For cycling, this was only possible where there were “spare” or underused traffic lanes that could be converted into temporary or permanent cycle lanes, protected from other traffic by light or hard segregation measures. For this reason, the proposed programme of schemes  for Wakefield does not include any new off road cycle lanes or widened “shared use” footway/cycleways.

    New funding streams are regularly initiated and Wakefield Council will keep these under review. If we identify suitable funding and the latest design guidance suggests that improvements to existing cycle infrastructure are required, we will devise a programme of prioritised improvements. There are a number of locations across the district where existing provisions for cyclists may fall short of the requirements listed in the new guidance and in due course we anticipate that the Council will complete a review and devise an action plan to deliver improvements. In the meantime we note your concerns and will keep the scheme under review.

Page last updated: 25 Nov 2022, 12:16 PM