Our ambitions

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In this section, we set out our initial thoughts on the direction for the future of transport, and our proposed approach to tackling the challenges noted in Section 3.

Our 2040 vision for Cheshire West and Chester

This is a significant moment for transport in west Cheshire, an opportunity to reimagine our transport system towards achieving a core vision for our borough.

The draft vision opposite paints a picture for the future borough we want to see, and how transport will play a part in delivering that future.

This is an emerging picture, and we want to know what you think. The vision will evolve based on your feedback and will form the backbone of our new Local Transport Plan.

Let’s talk about…Transport.
We want to know what you think…

By 2040, the transport system will help Cheshire West and Chester become a borough of thriving, caring and greener communities.

We will all benefit from a system that is sustainable, affordable, adaptable, and accessible to everyone, facilitating excellent quality of life, attractive neighbourhoods, thriving businesses, and inclusive prosperity for the urban and rural communities which make our borough unique.


What does this mean for transport?
Our five proposed priority areas

PRIORITY ONE

Tackling our climate emergency by achieving transport net zero and adapting to our rapidly changing environment.

This means achieving a reduction in carbon emissions from transport, towards net zero carbon by 2045. We also need to make sure our transport system can adapt to the changes in local climate we know are coming. We want to develop a transport network that protects our natural, built and historic environments and promotes biodiversity.

PRIORITY TWO

Creating a fairer society, and ensuring everyone can access jobs, education and other opportunities.

Tackling our poverty emergency means an affordable and accessible transport network for everyone in the borough, across urban and rural areas, regardless of whether they have access to a private car. We want to eliminate transport-related social exclusion, give people a real choice of transport modes, and remove the barriers to employment, learning, social and leisure activities.

PRIORITY THREE

Improving the health and wellbeing of communities by increasing physical activity levels, improving safety and improving air quality.

We want a transport system which contributes to helping more of us to live healthier, happier and longer lives and a positive shift in mental wellbeing. This includes improvements in local air quality, tackling the avoidable deaths and serious injuries that take place across our network, and reducing the impacts of traffic-related noise.


PRIORITY FOUR

Boosting our local economy by making it easier to recruit talent and supporting efficient, sustainable movement of goods.

Economic growth can significantly improve quality of life, opportunities and well-being. We want to see clean, inclusive growth, an integrated approach to land use and transport planning and a collaborative approach to tackling the barriers holding back our businesses.

PRIORITY FIVE

Creating great places to live with safe streets and more attractive, greener neighbourhoods.

Our transport system is much more than a means of getting around. Transport networks make up around three quarters of all public space in our communities , and shape the structure of our villages, towns and city. Quality transport networks need to play their part in creating and protecting distinctive, beautiful, vibrant places that people have reason to value.


How will we achieve these priorities?

We have identified nine building blocks for a transformed transport network that we believe help us to achieve the priorities and vision.

Once finalised, these nine principles will be the guiding rules for developing our Local Transport Plan – all policies must directly support achieving these principles. We will also set out how we will monitor progress throughout the lifetime of the plan to ensure we are on track to hit our targets.

We would like your view on whether these are the right priorities across the borough?

The role of digital and spatial planning in providing connectivity for all.

Developing a connected, accessible borough is about more than just transport alone.

Schools, shops and other vital services should be located close to where people live, reducing the need to travel. We will align our approach to transport planning and spatial planning as set out in the borough’s Local Plan.

Similarly, digital connectivity is also changing the need to travel, particularly for work and shopping trips. Ensuring that everyone across the borough has the same access to digital opportunities (both in terms of infrastructure and skills) will complement our approach to transport planning.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Percentage of households connected to high-speed broadband and 4G/5G connectivity
  • Proportion of residential areas within a short walking distance of key community facilities and services

Making walking, wheeling and cycling the best choices for local journeys.

Active modes of transport contribute directly to improved health outcomes, as well as safer, greener, less polluted neighbourhoods. Places designed around active modes are highly inclusive and maximise access to local employment and services for all.

Our approach to the future of transport will prioritise investment in quality walking, wheeling and cycling networks, for personal transport and deliveries. This includes reallocation of road space where necessary and appropriate to create a coherent, direct, safe, comfortable and attractive network for local trips.

Targets may include:

  • Proportion of the population who walk, wheel, and/or cycle each week
  • Proportion of children who walk, wheel and/or cycle to school
  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Physical activity levels for adults and children.
  • Length and coverage of the borough’s public rights of way network

Delivering a viable, affordable and accessible public transport network.


Public transport is critical to tackling transport-related social exclusion, providing access to jobs, learning, health and leisure for all. Good public transport supports businesses by increasing the recruitment pool available to them and freeing up highway capacity for road freight. A full double-decker bus can take as many as 75 car trips off the road, reducing congestion and tackling climate change (Source: Department for Transport, Bus Back Better 2021).

We need to rebuild the bus network as a mode of choice and escape the current downward spiral of reducing passenger numbers and declining network quality. We will seek to support the post-pandemic recovery of bus and rail patronage, and work with partners to develop the public transport where this meets our priorities, including improving integration with other modes.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Number of passenger journeys each year by bus/rail
  • Service satisfaction levels
  • Public transport accessibility levels to employment and key services
  • Service reliability and average journey times

Decarbonisation of the vehicles which transport people and goods.


Cars, motorbikes, vans and lorries will continue to play a central role in our future transport system. However, transitioning these to zero emission vehicles will be a critical part of achieving our priorities.

Government has committed to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035, with 80% of new car sales and 70% of new vans sold being zero emission at the tailpipe by 2030 (Source: Department for Transport, Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate). However, refuelling infrastructure for zero emission vehicles across North-West England is currently limited and patchy. We will enable a comprehensive electric vehicle charging network across the borough to support this transition and will work with partners to support the transition for bus, rail and freight vehicles. We will also transition the Council’s own fleet to zero emission vehicles.

Targets may include:

• Reduction in carbon emissions from road-based transport

• Increased proportion of miles driven by electric vehicles

• Number of electric vehicle public charging points

• Increased use of cargo bikes for local freight deliveries

Managing demand for short, solo car trips

While forecasts of zero emission vehicle adoption are impressive, decarbonisation of vehicles alone is highly unlikely to be enough in to achieve our target of a net zero borough by 2045 (Source: RAC Foundation 2023). Equally, electric vehicles still generate particulate pollution, contribute to traffic queues and are involved in road collisions.

A significant reduction in car miles driven, particularly where there is only one person in the vehicle, will be essential to achieving our priorities. We will need to provide better alternatives, as set out earlier, but we also need to avoid factors which make short, solo

car trips the easiest option where other travel options are readily available.

This includes reconsidering our approach to residential, visitor and workplace parking in our larger towns and city, investigating the relevance of targeted financial disincentives for certain car trips, promoting car sharing initiatives, and considering measures to reduce rat running through residential areas while improving the safety and directness of active modes of travel. Any such measures should only be employed in a targeted and well-evidenced way, and any revenues generated would be ring-fenced to improving sustainable transport provision to give people a real choice of travel modes.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in car miles and car trips
  • Increase in mode share to sustainable transport.
  • Shift to sustainable modes for freight.


Creating healthier and greener streets and places.

We want transport to enhance our local neighbourhoods, helping to create beautiful, healthy, safe places where people want to live and work, and where children feel safe to move around and play. This applies as much to the existing fabric of our towns and city as it does to new development sites enabled through the planning system.

This means transforming our streets to create people-centred places and prioritise community, giving people a real choice to walk, cycle and use public transport in the places they live. This also includes integrating biodiversity enhancements into new transport infrastructure.

Targets may include:

  • Biodiversity net gain within new transport infrastructure, including streets in new development sites
  • Reduced severance from transport infrastructure
  • Reduction in transport related noise and air pollution
  • Improved accessibility levels by sustainable transport to new industrial, business and housing developments

Targeting an end to deaths and serious injuries on our road network

Road crashes are the biggest global killer of people aged five to 29 worldwide (Source: World Health Organisation 2022), and at least one person is killed or seriously injured in collisions in west Cheshire every week. Every death and serious injury on our transport networks is a preventable tragedy.

Following internationally recognised best practice, we will pursue a Safe System approach to addressing road danger (see Brake (2023) The Safe System and Road Safety). Put simply, this means we will seek to ensure that all elements of the road system - vehicles, infrastructure, speed limits, road users, and post-crash care - work together as one to minimise the chance of a crash, or, if a crash does take place, to prevent death or serious injury from occurring.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the road network in west Cheshire.
  • Reduction on overall collisions

Delivering well-maintained and resilient networks.


Whilst ensuring value for money, we will work to ensure our existing transport networks are robust and can cope with changing impacts arising from climate change.

We will seek to minimise the deterioration of our local road infrastructure, including employing technology to improve efficiency and reduce carbon impacts.

Targets may include:

  • Condition status of the local road network and associated infrastructure compared to national/ regional baselines
  • Accessibility and openness of the borough’s public rights of way network
  • Disruptions to the highway network caused by flooding
  • Number of public transport services and active travel routes disrupted due to network maintenance or emergency repairs


Ensuring financial sustainability and value for money.

With a context of constrained budgets, it is more important than ever that our approach to the future of transport offers real value for money, and is viable over the long term, minimising the need for continuing public sector subsidy. We also need to maximise investment in our local transport system, whether this is from private companies, central government or through innovative trials.

Smaller, neighbourhood-based interventions will often go further to achieving the priorities set out here at pace than long-term infrastructure projects.

Targets may include:

  • Council core budget expenditure on transport
  • Long-term financial viability of interventions

Click here to return to the contents page.

Click here to return to the contents page.

Click here to return to the Let's talk about Transport consultation page.

In this section, we set out our initial thoughts on the direction for the future of transport, and our proposed approach to tackling the challenges noted in Section 3.

Our 2040 vision for Cheshire West and Chester

This is a significant moment for transport in west Cheshire, an opportunity to reimagine our transport system towards achieving a core vision for our borough.

The draft vision opposite paints a picture for the future borough we want to see, and how transport will play a part in delivering that future.

This is an emerging picture, and we want to know what you think. The vision will evolve based on your feedback and will form the backbone of our new Local Transport Plan.

Let’s talk about…Transport.
We want to know what you think…

By 2040, the transport system will help Cheshire West and Chester become a borough of thriving, caring and greener communities.

We will all benefit from a system that is sustainable, affordable, adaptable, and accessible to everyone, facilitating excellent quality of life, attractive neighbourhoods, thriving businesses, and inclusive prosperity for the urban and rural communities which make our borough unique.


What does this mean for transport?
Our five proposed priority areas

PRIORITY ONE

Tackling our climate emergency by achieving transport net zero and adapting to our rapidly changing environment.

This means achieving a reduction in carbon emissions from transport, towards net zero carbon by 2045. We also need to make sure our transport system can adapt to the changes in local climate we know are coming. We want to develop a transport network that protects our natural, built and historic environments and promotes biodiversity.

PRIORITY TWO

Creating a fairer society, and ensuring everyone can access jobs, education and other opportunities.

Tackling our poverty emergency means an affordable and accessible transport network for everyone in the borough, across urban and rural areas, regardless of whether they have access to a private car. We want to eliminate transport-related social exclusion, give people a real choice of transport modes, and remove the barriers to employment, learning, social and leisure activities.

PRIORITY THREE

Improving the health and wellbeing of communities by increasing physical activity levels, improving safety and improving air quality.

We want a transport system which contributes to helping more of us to live healthier, happier and longer lives and a positive shift in mental wellbeing. This includes improvements in local air quality, tackling the avoidable deaths and serious injuries that take place across our network, and reducing the impacts of traffic-related noise.


PRIORITY FOUR

Boosting our local economy by making it easier to recruit talent and supporting efficient, sustainable movement of goods.

Economic growth can significantly improve quality of life, opportunities and well-being. We want to see clean, inclusive growth, an integrated approach to land use and transport planning and a collaborative approach to tackling the barriers holding back our businesses.

PRIORITY FIVE

Creating great places to live with safe streets and more attractive, greener neighbourhoods.

Our transport system is much more than a means of getting around. Transport networks make up around three quarters of all public space in our communities , and shape the structure of our villages, towns and city. Quality transport networks need to play their part in creating and protecting distinctive, beautiful, vibrant places that people have reason to value.


How will we achieve these priorities?

We have identified nine building blocks for a transformed transport network that we believe help us to achieve the priorities and vision.

Once finalised, these nine principles will be the guiding rules for developing our Local Transport Plan – all policies must directly support achieving these principles. We will also set out how we will monitor progress throughout the lifetime of the plan to ensure we are on track to hit our targets.

We would like your view on whether these are the right priorities across the borough?

The role of digital and spatial planning in providing connectivity for all.

Developing a connected, accessible borough is about more than just transport alone.

Schools, shops and other vital services should be located close to where people live, reducing the need to travel. We will align our approach to transport planning and spatial planning as set out in the borough’s Local Plan.

Similarly, digital connectivity is also changing the need to travel, particularly for work and shopping trips. Ensuring that everyone across the borough has the same access to digital opportunities (both in terms of infrastructure and skills) will complement our approach to transport planning.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Percentage of households connected to high-speed broadband and 4G/5G connectivity
  • Proportion of residential areas within a short walking distance of key community facilities and services

Making walking, wheeling and cycling the best choices for local journeys.

Active modes of transport contribute directly to improved health outcomes, as well as safer, greener, less polluted neighbourhoods. Places designed around active modes are highly inclusive and maximise access to local employment and services for all.

Our approach to the future of transport will prioritise investment in quality walking, wheeling and cycling networks, for personal transport and deliveries. This includes reallocation of road space where necessary and appropriate to create a coherent, direct, safe, comfortable and attractive network for local trips.

Targets may include:

  • Proportion of the population who walk, wheel, and/or cycle each week
  • Proportion of children who walk, wheel and/or cycle to school
  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Physical activity levels for adults and children.
  • Length and coverage of the borough’s public rights of way network

Delivering a viable, affordable and accessible public transport network.


Public transport is critical to tackling transport-related social exclusion, providing access to jobs, learning, health and leisure for all. Good public transport supports businesses by increasing the recruitment pool available to them and freeing up highway capacity for road freight. A full double-decker bus can take as many as 75 car trips off the road, reducing congestion and tackling climate change (Source: Department for Transport, Bus Back Better 2021).

We need to rebuild the bus network as a mode of choice and escape the current downward spiral of reducing passenger numbers and declining network quality. We will seek to support the post-pandemic recovery of bus and rail patronage, and work with partners to develop the public transport where this meets our priorities, including improving integration with other modes.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in miles driven in private cars per person
  • Number of passenger journeys each year by bus/rail
  • Service satisfaction levels
  • Public transport accessibility levels to employment and key services
  • Service reliability and average journey times

Decarbonisation of the vehicles which transport people and goods.


Cars, motorbikes, vans and lorries will continue to play a central role in our future transport system. However, transitioning these to zero emission vehicles will be a critical part of achieving our priorities.

Government has committed to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035, with 80% of new car sales and 70% of new vans sold being zero emission at the tailpipe by 2030 (Source: Department for Transport, Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate). However, refuelling infrastructure for zero emission vehicles across North-West England is currently limited and patchy. We will enable a comprehensive electric vehicle charging network across the borough to support this transition and will work with partners to support the transition for bus, rail and freight vehicles. We will also transition the Council’s own fleet to zero emission vehicles.

Targets may include:

• Reduction in carbon emissions from road-based transport

• Increased proportion of miles driven by electric vehicles

• Number of electric vehicle public charging points

• Increased use of cargo bikes for local freight deliveries

Managing demand for short, solo car trips

While forecasts of zero emission vehicle adoption are impressive, decarbonisation of vehicles alone is highly unlikely to be enough in to achieve our target of a net zero borough by 2045 (Source: RAC Foundation 2023). Equally, electric vehicles still generate particulate pollution, contribute to traffic queues and are involved in road collisions.

A significant reduction in car miles driven, particularly where there is only one person in the vehicle, will be essential to achieving our priorities. We will need to provide better alternatives, as set out earlier, but we also need to avoid factors which make short, solo

car trips the easiest option where other travel options are readily available.

This includes reconsidering our approach to residential, visitor and workplace parking in our larger towns and city, investigating the relevance of targeted financial disincentives for certain car trips, promoting car sharing initiatives, and considering measures to reduce rat running through residential areas while improving the safety and directness of active modes of travel. Any such measures should only be employed in a targeted and well-evidenced way, and any revenues generated would be ring-fenced to improving sustainable transport provision to give people a real choice of travel modes.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in car miles and car trips
  • Increase in mode share to sustainable transport.
  • Shift to sustainable modes for freight.


Creating healthier and greener streets and places.

We want transport to enhance our local neighbourhoods, helping to create beautiful, healthy, safe places where people want to live and work, and where children feel safe to move around and play. This applies as much to the existing fabric of our towns and city as it does to new development sites enabled through the planning system.

This means transforming our streets to create people-centred places and prioritise community, giving people a real choice to walk, cycle and use public transport in the places they live. This also includes integrating biodiversity enhancements into new transport infrastructure.

Targets may include:

  • Biodiversity net gain within new transport infrastructure, including streets in new development sites
  • Reduced severance from transport infrastructure
  • Reduction in transport related noise and air pollution
  • Improved accessibility levels by sustainable transport to new industrial, business and housing developments

Targeting an end to deaths and serious injuries on our road network

Road crashes are the biggest global killer of people aged five to 29 worldwide (Source: World Health Organisation 2022), and at least one person is killed or seriously injured in collisions in west Cheshire every week. Every death and serious injury on our transport networks is a preventable tragedy.

Following internationally recognised best practice, we will pursue a Safe System approach to addressing road danger (see Brake (2023) The Safe System and Road Safety). Put simply, this means we will seek to ensure that all elements of the road system - vehicles, infrastructure, speed limits, road users, and post-crash care - work together as one to minimise the chance of a crash, or, if a crash does take place, to prevent death or serious injury from occurring.

Targets may include:

  • Reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the road network in west Cheshire.
  • Reduction on overall collisions

Delivering well-maintained and resilient networks.


Whilst ensuring value for money, we will work to ensure our existing transport networks are robust and can cope with changing impacts arising from climate change.

We will seek to minimise the deterioration of our local road infrastructure, including employing technology to improve efficiency and reduce carbon impacts.

Targets may include:

  • Condition status of the local road network and associated infrastructure compared to national/ regional baselines
  • Accessibility and openness of the borough’s public rights of way network
  • Disruptions to the highway network caused by flooding
  • Number of public transport services and active travel routes disrupted due to network maintenance or emergency repairs


Ensuring financial sustainability and value for money.

With a context of constrained budgets, it is more important than ever that our approach to the future of transport offers real value for money, and is viable over the long term, minimising the need for continuing public sector subsidy. We also need to maximise investment in our local transport system, whether this is from private companies, central government or through innovative trials.

Smaller, neighbourhood-based interventions will often go further to achieving the priorities set out here at pace than long-term infrastructure projects.

Targets may include:

  • Council core budget expenditure on transport
  • Long-term financial viability of interventions

Click here to return to the contents page.