FAQs

The government’s ambition is to make walking, wheeling and cycling the natural choices, both for shorter and longer journeys. Transforming local areas in ways that support active travel will reduce congestion, improve air quality, improve physical and mental health and support local economies.

The Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) concept has been developed by the Department for Transport (DfT) for local and regional authorities to take a strategic approach in improving walking and cycling infrastructure. We have been working with many of the district councils in Kent to develop detailed LCWIPs and have been successful in obtaining funding for the delivery of some of their proposals in recent years.

To fulfil our county-wide role as the Local Transport Authority, to supplement the existing LCWIPs and to aid future LCWIP development in parts of Kent, we have decided to develop a Kent Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (KCWIP), so that the public and stakeholders are clear about where our priorities are for improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling and to help us ensure that each district LCWIP forms a coherent county wide plan for delivery.

The key outcomes of the KCWIP are:

• A network plan for walking and cycling, which identifies preferred routes and core walking zones
• A plan for integrating the KCWIP into active travel planning policies, strategies, and delivery plans
• A prioritised programme of infrastructure improvements for future investment
• A robust, evidence-based document which sets out the underlying analysis carried out and provides a narrative which supports the identified improvements and network.

The key objectives of the KCWIP are to:

• Stream existing and new knowledge into one document to build a complete picture of the walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure, identifying active travel network gaps and propose interventions to fill these gaps
• Improve urban and inter-urban strategic connections across Kent
• Develop cycling routes which support current demand and encourage future growth for predominantly commuting, but also non-commuting trips
• Improve walking and wheeling accessibility within urban centres
• Propose long and short-term high-level improvements to meet current walking, wheeling, and cycling demand and serve future demand. These improvements will be attractive, comfortable, direct, coherent and accessible
• Align walking, wheeling and cycling interventions with local, regional and national policies

The KCWIP responds to and helps to deliver a number of government strategies and duties and forms part of KCC’s wider plans and ambitions for creating and improving active travel routes. These are summarised below: 

Government strategies and duties

• The Second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy[1] outlines the government’s ambition to make walking and cycling the natural choices for shorter journeys by 2040. It aims to: double cycling, increase walking activity and increase the percentage of children that usually walk to school. 
• Gear Change: a bold vision for cycling and walking[2] describes the vision to make England a great walking and cycling nation. One of its aims is for half of all journeys in towns and cities being cycled or walked by 2030. 
• The Transport Decarbonisation Plan[3] sets out the government’s commitments and the actions needed to decarbonize the entire transport system in the UK. The first strategic priority it sets is “Accelerating modal shift to public and active transport [making them] the natural first choice for our daily activities”.
• The Cycle Infrastructure Design Local Transport Note 1/20[4] (LTN 1/20) establishes five design principles for active travel networks and their routes: cohesion, directness, safety, comfort, attractiveness.
• Inclusive Mobility[5] is the government’s guide to best practice on improving access to public transport and creating a barrier-free pedestrian environment. Creating and maintaining accessible public realm is crucial for ensuring that disabled people are not excluded from playing a full role in society.

KCC’s strategies 

• Outcome 5 in Kent’s adopted Local Transport Plan 4, Delivering growth without gridlock[6] is to “Provide and promote active travel choices for all members of the community to encourage good health and wellbeing and implement measures to improve local air quality.”
• Our draft emerging Local Transport Plan 5[7] is proposing a policy objective which incorporates active travel – Policy Outcome 9A: “We will aim to deliver walking and cycling improvements at prioritised locations in Kent to deliver increased levels of activity towards the Active Travel England target and support Kent’s diverse economy, presented in a Kent Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.” 
• Framing Kent’s Future[8] is our top-level council strategy for 2022 to 2026. It sets out the priorities that we will focus on over this time to tackle the challenges and make the most of the opportunities that the county is facing. Priority 2: Infrastructure for Communities, includes a commitment “To ensure residents have access to viable and attractive travel options that allow them to make safe, efficient and more sustainable journeys throughout Kent.” This includes innovative transport technologies and active travel options such as walking and cycling, that can ease pressures on busy Kent roads while positively contributing to health and environmental outcomes for the county.  

The Kent and Medway Integrated Care Strategy[9] sets the vision for how NHS Kent and Medway, KCC and Medway Council can work together with others to make improvements in health and care for residents. The Strategy focuses on “Developing Kent and Medway as a place where people thrive”. The things partners will focus on to make a difference includes “Developing places where active travel, such as walking and cycling, is favoured, and healthy choices are easier to make”. 

The clear and consistent feature of the policy landscape is that Kent County Council’s efforts should be focused on delivering substantially more walking and cycling in the county. Achieving this outcome will realise the following benefits:

• Less traffic in towns, less pressure on our highway assets
• A fitter population, with better physical and mental health
• Less reliance on health and social care services
• A more productive workforce
• More footfall and patronage of local high streets
• Greater access to employment opportunities, shops and leisure for lower income communities who tend to have lower car ownership levels
• Greater freedom for children, young people and adults without cars
• More public transport use
• Cleaner air, less noise, better neighbourhoods
• Road behaviour changes, helping to improve safety.

The KCWIP has been developed using a number of sources:

• The Department for Transport's LCWIP guidance. 
• In order to understand local context and project-specific challenges, input has been sought from local stakeholders.
• Online sources of information such as the Census.
• Online tools such as Google Maps.

These above-mentioned sources of information have been compiled to produce the cycling routes and walking zones and their improvements which we now invite you to share your feedback on.

Given the scale of the KCWIP it is crucial that it compliments proposed district-level active travel schemes and aligns with district-level policies and ambitions. 

There are a number of LCWIPs which have been, or are in the process of development, by district-level authorities across the county. As these documents primarily emphasise cycling and walking trips made at a local level, it was deemed important to produce a plan that approached the future of Cycling and Walking Infrastructure in Kent at a County-wide level, considering both urban and rural areas, shorter and longer distance journeys. The KCWIP is designed to complement these LCWIPs by connecting more localised routes proposed by LCWIPs with the longer, inter-urban routes proposed by the KCWIP. For this reason, walking zones and cycling routes have not been proposed in locations where there is an existing LCWIP. The areas which have an existing LCWIP are as follows:

• Ashford 
• Folkestone and Hythe
• Gravesham 
• Sevenoaks
• Tonbridge and Malling 
• Tunbridge Wells and Paddock Wood 

The budget to fund the development of the KCWIP has come from Active Travel England’s Capability Fund, a revenue grant which enables Local Transport Authorities to promote walking, wheeling and cycling by developing infrastructure plans, including drawing up bids for capital funding that are compliant with the Local Transport Note 1/20 as well as carrying out behaviour change activities such as training and promotion. 

There is currently no identified budget for each priority schemes presented in this consultation. Applications for funding will be made as opportunities arise either through Active Travel England or other suitable funding streams.

Active Travel England has said that authorities with a Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan are better placed to secure future funding.

In Kent, some district, borough and town councils have already developed or are in the process of producing their LCWIPs. The cycling and walking routes proposed in those LCWIPs have been reviewed and taken into account during the development of the KCWIP.

The KCWIP aims to complement and support these LCWIPs and create a coherent and well-connected county-wide active travel network. It will help to fill gaps in the existing network - complimenting existing work to date rather than replicating or contesting anything already proposed in the published/forthcoming LCWIPs. The future LCWIPs will build on the KCWIP network, by focusing on the local district network.