On Thursday 9th June 2022, 29 of us gathered at Westcliffe Hall for a presentation by John Rowe and David Mitchell about the work we have done on a design for a Harrogate cycle network.
John explained the background.
LCWIPs
In 2017, local authorities were asked by government to produce Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plans. The key outputs of each LCWIP were to be a network plan, a prioritised programme of improvements, and a report.
North Yorkshire did produce a cycling-only LCWIP and it was adopted in July 2019. It had a network map, but without any suggestion of what infrastructure improvements would be needed on those routes, and with no priorities other than focusing of 4 chosen routes.
We decided we would fill in the gaps, by suggesting a comprehensive list of improvements needed. We split Harrogate up into manageable zones, and produced zone plans.
LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design
David introduced the government Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance (LTN 1/20) which we applied in the zone plans. LTN 1/20 contains Core Design Principles, which say that cycle routes and networks should be Coherent, Direct, Safe, Comfortable and Attractive.
It also has Summary Principles, which are slightly more detailed.
Amongst other things, cycle routes and networks should:
- be inclusive, suitable for everyone from 8 to 80 and beyond (Summary Principle 1)
- treat cycles as vehicles, not as pedestrians, and not ask cyclists and pedestrians to share space in urban areas (Summary Principle 2)
- be designed for use by thousands of people a day – in other words, don’t just design for people who already get around by bike (Summary Principle 5)
- be designed by designers who have cycled through the area to understand how it feels and any failings (Summary Principle 20)
- be consistent. A scheme is only as good as its weakest link (Summary Principle 21)
Important details in LTN 1/20 included when to protect cycle facilites (Fig 4.1).
LTN 1/20 also specifies the widths of cycle lanes and tracks, in Table 5-2.
Example Designs
John went through three examples of streets and designs, showing how we measured up and worked within the constraints.
Next Steps
For the moment, the zone documents are accessible to Supporters only. We’re asking Supporters to:
- read the zone documents for the areas you know well
- cycle the areas with the proposed designs in mind, and
- feed back comments via our website – anything we have missed, or better design ideas
Feedback should be given by the end of July. We’ll then finalise the documents and make them public via the website for wider comment.