York Local Transport Strategy Consultation Results
York’s Local Transport Strategy consultation results have been published in brief. They show 85% support for improving provision for walking, wheeling and cycling.
The consultation was open from late 2023 to early 2024, and focused on ten policy areas. These are the results in those policy areas.
There was a reasonably large response to the consultation, with 1,342 online replies and a further 35 on paper. Face to face events were also held.
The council’s update report says that many respondents identified a mismatch between transport provision in York, and what is needed to deliver modal shift.
‘Individual modes of transport were seen as having significant problems which would be barriers to their wider adoption – despite greater use being essential to delivering Climate Change Strategy targets. Cycle routes were seen as insufficiently safe because they were not segregated from other traffic’.
para 29 of the city of york’s update report
Overall, the council’s ten visions were overwhelmingly endorsed.
Hypocrisy as York Outer Ring Road Dualling Approved
Despite all the warm words about reducing car dependency and prioritising active travel, City of York Council has just taken the hypocritical decision to proceed with the £65 million dualling of York Outer Ring Road north (from the A19 to the A1036).
The excuse/justification for this is that it will dissuade through traffic from going via the city centre. There are better ways to achieve this – for example, closing the city centre to through traffic.
Extra capacity on the outer ring road will induce more traffic. People won’t just drive round and round the ring road – they will start and/or finish their journeys within York.
As the saying goes, ‘don’t tell me what your priorities are, tell me what you’re spending your money on and I’ll tell you what your priorities are’.
65 million reasons say that York’s priority is still cars, cars, cars.
York is supposed to be reducing car miles travelled by 20% by 2030. If you were sincere about doing that, would you start by dualling the ring road?
Looked at another way, on the assumption that the council is successful in reducing vehicle traffic by 20% in the next 6 years, would that solve any congestion problems on the ring road without dualling?
Comments by Pete Kilbane
Pete Kilbane, the Councillor responsible for transport, said that the results show that the people of York want to see changes to how they move around’.
‘The next stage is to fully analyse the results and come back to residents with detailed plans for how to deliver the long-term changes they’ve asked for’.
pete kilbane, executive member for transport
Next Steps
Officers will carry on preparing York’s Local Transport Strategy, informed by the consultation results. The LTS will sit under a Mayoral Transport Plan.
Other documents to be prepared include:
- a Bus Service Improvement Plan
- a York Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP)
- a Movement and Place Plan
- a transport-related Supplementary Planning document
There are also some ‘quick wins’ which are wishy-washy rather than specific and ambitous – for example ‘explore how we can better incorporate place-making in projects in the existing York…urban area and villages’.