The Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan

The LCWIP involves significant changes and developments to Colchester’s central area road network with the aim of significantly improving infrastructure for cycling. The Essex Highways site explains that:

Essex has been awarded over £7million of government funding to develop safer, greener and healthier travel and transport locally as part of the Phase Two Active Travel Fund.

New cycling and walking routes will be delivered across five towns throughout 2021/22. All five schemes in Basildon (Wickford), Braintree, Brentwood, Chelmsford and Colchester are being developed in detail with the advice of local councils, councillors, businesses, cycling, access and other local interest groups. 

The ambition underpinning each scheme is to reallocate road space, creating more space for walking and cycling. These schemes will change the way that you, the local residents, use and think about your streets and spend more time in them.

Plans for Colchester were outlined and consulted on in the first  consultation in  March and April 2021. The following links  will take you to the consultation documents issued by Essex Highways and  Colchester Civic Society’s responses.

A follow up consultation on the detailed plans for North Station Road, Lexden Road and the town centre was published in May 2021.

This document outlines detailed plans drawn up in close consultation with Colchester Cycling Campaign and Walk Colchester. ( a Dept. for Transport requirement being that plans must be drawn up by those who actually use the roads) The plans are designed to follow the strict guidelines specified by the Department for Transport in the documents ‘Gear Change a bold vision for cycling and walking’ and also in ‘Cycling Infrastructure’

A summary of the design principles is shown below.

The document also makes clear that:

“The Government intends that all proposed schemes will be checked by a new inspectorate against the summary principles before funding is agreed, and that finished schemes will be inspected as appropriate to ensure that they have been delivered in compliance with them”

Part of the vision for this infrastructure development is to enable a shift to the use of e- bikes and e- scooters in place of cars and in particular to establish depots where internet orders will be transferred to electric cargo bikes for local delivery instead of the vans currently in use. We understand that consultations on such plans are about to get underway for our town, by Colchester Borough Council.

Links to this second consultation and our response are available below: