We are currently researching and prioritising the planning and delivery of active travel provision for cycling, walking and wheeling routes in the following areas within the county:

• Evesham
• Redditch
• Wyre Forest
• Droitwich Spa
• Malvern
• Pershore
• Bromsgrove
• Worcester City

This will involve preparing a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for each area. Each plan will aim to encourage greater and safer opportunities for cycling, walking, and wheeling in the county to:

• help reduce journeys by other forms of transport
• improve health and wellbeing
• reduce congestion and improve air quality

LCWIPs set out the vision and key priorities for infrastructure improvements in each of the areas, to create attractive, joined-up priority cycling and walking networks, encouraging, and enabling people to travel more sustainably and safely. LCWIPs are also key plans in helping us to secure funding to deliver these improvements to cycling, walking and wheeling routes, including via Government bidding opportunities and from developers

The development of Worcestershire’s LCWIPs programme for identifying proposed routes has already been supported by £160K from the Capability Building Fund given by Active Travel (GOV.UK).

What is wheeling?

Wheeling is an equivalent mode of mobility to being on foot as a pedestrian. It includes wheeled mobility aids such as manual self or assistant propelled wheelchairs, including:

• wheelchairs with power attachments or all-terrain attachments (such as the ‘Freewheel’)
• powered wheelchairs
• mobility scooters (three and four-wheeled)
• rollators

A bicycle may also be used as a mobility aid by leaning on it or pushing it. Similarly, some people may use an e-scooter to wheel through a pedestrianised environment as a walking aid. Some people also rely on their bicycle to move (at a pedestrian’s pace) through pedestrianised environments when it is not physically possible to walk or push their bicycle. 

What will the LCWIPs deliver?

The LCWIPs programme is a key element of any future transport plans for the county. It builds upon existing and emerging planning policies putting walking, cycling, and wheeling primarily.

The outcomes of the LCWIPs programme will identify:

• network plans that prioritise preferred routes for further development
• a prioritised programme of infrastructure improvements for future investment
• an explanation of the process followed, and analysis undertaken

For more information you can email us on LCWIPs@worcestershire.gov.uk.