Climate Emergency

Cheshire West and Chester Council has been awarded just over £128,000 to enable and encourage more people to walk, wheel and cycle by Active Travel England.

The grant from the Active Travel Capability Fund is part of a national £32.9million investment to help accelerate walking and cycling schemes across the country, to tackle the climate emergency and make roads safer for everyone.

The Council was successful in applying for this funding which has been allocated to:

• Develop the Council's Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan – further scheme planning, design and consultation
• Assess emergency active travel measures
• Investigate cycle and e-cycle hire opportunities
• Train Council staff and members on active travel guidance and standards to support highway schemes and developments

The Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport, Councillor Karen Shore said:

"We're delighted to receive this grant, it will help fund our long-term ambitions to encourage more journeys to be made in a more sustainable way. We want to expand our walking and cycling network across the borough, linking with public transport services. This funding will help us to develop future plans and continue to promote active travel events and schemes."

The grant supports the Council's Climate Emergency response plan, and the delivery of its Health and Wellbeing Strategy, Low Emission Strategy, Local Transport Plan and accompanying Cycling Strategy.

A new website launches today giving access to live air quality data from across the borough and from local authorities across the country.

A key element of Cheshire West and Chester Council's Low Emission Strategy (LES) included a commitment to improve the standard of air quality data provided to residents and to introduce a mobile-based platform to give residents easy and convenient access to the data.

From 9 January 2023, the website can be accessed:

The website provides residents with improved access to near real-time data from the Council's monitoring stations. The data also feeds through to the UK Air Quality website which hosts live air quality data from local authorities across the country:

Gases being monitored vary by location and by monitor type. Borough wide, nitrogen dioxide is monitored using diffusion tubes. There are three traffic-related Air Quality Management Areas, in Frodsham, Ellesmere Port and Chester respectively, all with a focus on nitrogen dioxide.

There is also an industrial emissions Air Quality Management Area, located in Thornton-le-Moors with the focus on sulphur dioxide. The Council also monitors particulate matter (PM10) emissions from both industrial and transport sources to ensure compliance with the national standards.

Councillor Karen Shore, Cabinet Member for Environment, Communities and Strategic Transport said:

"The new website allows the air quality data to be easily checked at all times including historic data. The improved functionality allows different parameters to be selected based on location, timeframe and pollutants and the data can be exported if needed.

"The new website is being launched at the same time we are planning to revoke the Air Quality Management Area in Ellesmere Port that was declared in May 2005 for transport related levels of nitrogen dioxide.

"Over the past five years, monitoring has demonstrated a trend of reducing levels. The levels now comply with the national standard and are likely to continue to improve which will allow us to revoke the order. This reduction in levels is the result of the Air Quality Action Plan vehicle queue reduction measures combined with improved vehicle emission standards."

Residents and visitors in Cheshire West and Chester can now save money and "Get Around for £2", following the launch of a Government scheme to cap fares for single bus journeys.

From 1 January to 31 March 2023, over 130 bus operators will charge no more than £2 for their single tickets across over 4,600 routes nationally, helping families, commuters and other passengers save money.

The scheme hopes to give bus travel a boost in the borough, encouraging more people to discover how easy and stress-free travelling by bus is.

Cheshire West and Chester Council's Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport, Councillor Karen Shore said:

"The initiative encourages people to get back on the bus to help the industry continue its recovery from the pandemic. It will also reduce CO2 emissions and tackle congestion by taking an estimated two million cars off the road nationally.

"If you've never used buses before, why not give it a go and see if bus travel could work for you - this is the ideal opportunity to hop on board. Buses are a key part of our vision for clean, efficient and modern transport network in the borough, that is affordable for everyone.

"This is a great way to start the new year and we will continue to work with our bus operators, through our Enhanced Partnership, to ensure passengers can access reliable and affordable bus services once the scheme ends in March."

The scheme is on the Government's Help for Households website, as the new cap can deliver real savings for those most affected by the rising cost of living.

Bus operators not taking part in the scheme in Cheshire West and Chester include: Aintree Coachline on routes 40, 41 and 272 and M&H Coaches on their route X1.

A full list of operators taking part is available:

Councillor Shore added:

"Don't forget, visitors to Chester city centre are able to use our excellent Park & Ride service, although it's not part of this scheme, the fare is just £2 for a return journey, so you can save money to travel quick and easy into the City"

More than £425,000 has been pledged by Cheshire West and Chester Council to local projects as part of the autumn 2022 round on the Cheshire West Crowd.

This crowdfunding initiative, which is being run by the Council in partnership with Spacehive, provides the opportunity for everyone to put forward community-led projects and attract funding so the borough can become more vibrant, resilient and connected.

After just two funding rounds, the Cheshire West Crowd had already seen more than £650,000 raised for local projects, with almost £300,000 in pledges by the Council alongside over 2,000 other backers.

The Council has now pledged a further six-figure sum to community projects as part of the biggest funding round yet.

The pledges made by the Council include:

• more than £16,000 to help Chester Deaf Centre install a new kitchen
• nearly £9,000 for Soul Kitchen to purchase a van to deliver food to those in need
• £16,000 towards a new skate park in Northwich
• over £7,000 for a safer footpath route to Tilston School
• around £5,000 towards the Boat Shed Arts Club
• much more.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of the Council and Champion for the Cheshire West Crowd, said:

"This initiative continues to go from strength to strength and we're really pleased to have pledged such a significant amount of money towards projects.

"We're aware many community projects face challenges with the cost of living so this funding will be a real boost to them.

"With our pledges, it's fantastic to see that a number of the projects have reached their crowdfunding targets and will now get ready to deliver their support.

"The great thing about the Cheshire West Crowd is that it provides an opportunity for all the community to get involved and support local projects.

"I'd encourage everyone to take a look at the Cheshire West Crowd and see which projects you might be able to support in your area.

"No matter how much you're able to give, it'll make a real difference to them and the invaluable support they offer."

Visit the Cheshire West Crowd website to view all the projects

46 projects and counting are now running crowdfunding campaigns as part of the current round, calling on the local community to support their ideas.

Whether you're a business, donor, resident or anyone else, you can also get involved with the Cheshire West Crowd and donate to local projects close to your heart.

All projects will need to reach their crowdfunding targets on the Cheshire West Crowd by Tuesday 28 February 2023.

Visit the Cheshire West Crowd website to view all the projects

All figures quoted were accurate at the time of writing and might fluctuate slightly.

Cheshire West and Chester libraries have come up with a new idea to help save money and the environment in good time for World Book Day in March, fancy dress swap events.

Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Councillor Louise Gittins said:

"Seeing primary schoolchildren in book-related fancy dress costumes every World Book Day has become a common sight in March but, with ever-mounting financial and environmental pressures limiting new purchases makes more sense than ever.

"For the first time, many of our libraries will be accepting donations of fancy dress at the start of the year and hosting clothes swaps before World Book Day itself. What better way to share the fun, so you can play your part to save money and the climate emergency."

If the donor does not want a replacement costume, then it will be donated to anyone who turns up on either Saturday who does not have an outfit to swap.

All donated clothes must be clean, in good condition and suitable for primary school-aged children. Any items which are not taken by the end of the last swap session will be either donated to charity or sent for recycling.

Libraries cannot guarantee that a suitable costume will be available for every person on the day.

Participating libraries are Blacon, Ellesmere Port, Frodsham, Great Boughton, Helsby, Hope Farm, Lache, Little Sutton, Neston, Sandiway, Tattenhall and Winsford.

Also on the two Saturdays, Blacon and Ellesmere Port libraries will be hosting "Pop-up Patch Challenge" volunteers who will be there with their sewing kits to show visitors the basics so that they can have a go themselves. The Patchers also welcome anyone who can already sew to bring their mending and join them.

For World Book Day itself, libraries will be exchanging the £1 book tokens that every school child will receive, for the special World Book Day books on Saturday 4 March from opening time until 12.30pm. Opening hours may vary slightly between branches.