Active Travel Strategy

In North Lanarkshire, and Scotland as a whole, there is continuing drive to create a sustainable transport system. This system should recognise the challenges before us, particularly in terms of reducing inequalities and taking climate action. To this end, the Council is fully engaged in responding to the global climate emergency by supporting increasing mode shift toward low and zero carbon transportation. 

The development of this new strategy is timely, not least because these challenges have been furthered by the need to continue to adapt to life after COVID-19. This may bring permanent changes to the way people will live, work and travel around our area. Therefore, the Council needs to provide a targeted approach to enhancing the provision of active and sustainable travel opportunities. This will then support a mode shift in favour of walking, wheeling and cycling.

This strategy complements extensive work undertaken by the Council between 2018 and 2020 which focussed on identifying specific transport interventions in Airdrie, Bellshill, Coatbridge, Croy, Cumbernauld, Harthill, Kilsyth, Motherwell, Salsburgh, Shotts and Wishaw. This previous work was supported by extensive public and stakeholder consultation which identified the range of problems, issues, constraints and opportunities on our transport network. This has led to development of specific actions that we will be seeking to bring forward as this strategy is implemented in the coming years. 

Significantly, the strategy provides a framework for this Council to prioritise and bring forward active travel interventions across North Lanarkshire which will improve links within our towns. These will align with our Town Visions to provide better active travel networks between our communities and across our local authority boundary. This will ensure that the possibilities afforded by the strategy are not just confined to journeys made within North Lanarkshire. The strategy places a strong emphasis on strengthening wider strategic connections with our neighbouring authorities, as well as links with partner and stakeholder groups, both corporate and community based. 

By adopting this strategy, the Council is making a statement of intent that we will have in place a framework for active travel that supports integration in our transport network. This will help to deliver improved health and well-being and environmental, social inclusion and public access benefits. 

The approach we are taking to improve the long-term uptake of walking and cycling in North Lanarkshire supports the Scottish Government’s National Transport Strategy and Active Travel Framework which incorporate the aims of the National Walking Strategy and Cycling Action Plan. Through the strategy, the Council will provide local support to a national commitment to make our journeys more sustainable. It will also improve the adaptability of our transport network to the future challenges we are all facing.

Councillor Michael McPake, Convener, Environment and Transportation Committee

This strategy aims to create a wide range of connections across North Lanarkshire which can be utilised for everyday journeys such as travelling to access employment, education or meeting essential needs in addition to recreational purposes.

Active Travel is a means of transportation which is undertaken by physical activity without the use of motorised vehicles. Active travel can take many forms but primarily consists of walking, wheeling and cycling.

By providing suitable infrastructure and facilities to support the uptake of active travel, we can reduce reliance on the private car; thereby reducing carbon emissions and improving overall health and well-being. 

This strategy allows key strategic and local connections to be identified to improve walking, wheeling and cycling facilities across our area. By identifying missing active travel links at a local level, we can seek to improve connections and create ‘20 minute neighbourhoods’. These 20 minute neighbourhoods will allow our communities to reach the majority of their essential needs within a 20 minute walk of their home. 

In addition, there is now a growing understanding of the impacts and the potential spread of transport poverty. This is often defined as where a lack of access to good-quality and affordable transport options contributes to preventing people from accessing essential needs, employment, services, education or training. Improving accessibility with high quality active travel connections can help combat the potential impacts of transport poverty by providing accessible, alternative and low-cost transport options.

Initial steps towards the development of this strategy were taken by the Council in 2018 when our first sustainable transport study was completed. This earlier work assessed transport problems and opportunities in Airdrie and Coatbridge and set out a detailed action plan for improvements, particularly those focussed on active travel.

Subsequent sustainable transport studies were completed between 2019 and 2020 for Bellshill, Croy, Cumbernauld, Harthill, Kilsyth, Motherwell, Salsburgh, Shotts and Wishaw. These set out further action plans for walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure improvements and promotion of behavioural change. These studies have laid the foundation for the Council to now progress with a strategy for active travel across our area. 

The progression of the sustainable transport studies has facilitated identification of common active travel related problems, issues, constraints and opportunities across North Lanarkshire.

The development of this strategy has been supported by collaborative discussions with organisations that have a role in promoting active travel in our area and with our neighbouring authorities

With extensive public and stakeholder engagement undertaken between 2018 and spring 2020 to support the sustainable transport studies, the Active Travel Strategy is built on a foundation of consultation. This has captured the key issues and opportunities we need to consider to make active travel a viable and alternative mode for travelling within (and to and from) North Lanarkshire.

It is important that the Active Travel Strategy provides a framework for the delivery of actions and potential projects identified in the individual sustainable transport studies. The strategy must take consideration of commuter, leisure/recreational and cross-boundary links to our neighbouring authorities. The strategy will also help to enable the delivery of local policies across North Lanarkshire.

Sustrans are a key delivery partner in active travel projects in North Lanarkshire. We will continue to work closely with them to deliver improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling facilities across our area.

Other key partners such as the Green Network Trust are currently undertaking work both locally and regionally on the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Green Network Blueprint; part of a much wider Central Scotland Green Network. The Blueprint is a framework for the creation of:

• A Strategic Green Network - facilitating the off-road movement of people around and between communities through Green Active Travel routes and greenspace; and

• A Strategic Habitat Network - facilitating the movement of wildlife through the landscape

The development of this strategy has been influenced by the various Local, Regional and National strategies and policies which influence transport within North Lanarkshire

North Lanarkshire has a high quality, accessible active travel network which supports the well-being of our residents and visitors, enhances social inclusion and improves the ability of people to walk, wheel or cycle for any journey purpose in our area.

 This is North Lanarkshire. The place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit.

The Place, The Vision is our plan for North Lanarkshire, for our businesses and our people, boosting the local economy and creating jobs. This plan outlines a programme of place-based investment that aims to address the range of different economic, social and health issues that exist at a local level to achieve a change that is sustainable in the longer-term. Together, the Town Visions, Country Parks for the Future and Town and Community Hubs programmes seek to create a coherent, vibrant and sustainable future for North Lanarkshire.

The plan recognises the role greenspace has and includes a series of masterplans for the following country parks: Palacerigg Country Park, Drumpellier Country Park and Strathclyde Country Park. Country Parks and greenspace provide opportunities to form key active travel hubs and improve health.

Town centres have been challenged by the rise of online and out-of-town shopping. To address the difficulties towns face and to avoid dereliction and further decline, the answer is to reposition town centres as mixed-use spaces, promoting town centre living and putting staff and services closer to communities. There will be a much stronger focus on new-build housing, residential conversion and refurbishment. Each of the eight towns in North Lanarkshire have their own challenges, opportunities, history and heritage so this will not be a one size fits all exercise. These Visions represent a long-term strategy for transformation over a 15-20 year period.

Schools are the heart of towns and communities and represent the biggest investment in infrastructure across North Lanarkshire. The Council has a commitment to replace every school not replaced or remodelled since 1996 and a vision to make these places for the whole community.

To do this, three types of hubs have been envisaged:

• Schools are the heart of towns and communities and represent the biggest investment in infrastructure across North Lanarkshire. The Council has a commitment to replace every school not replaced or remodelled since 1996 and a vision to make these places for the whole community.
• Town hubs are likely to include primary and secondary education and an early years’ facility. Other services such as comprehensive sport, culture and leisure facilities will be offered on a larger scale.
• Community hubs are likely to include at least one learning establishment and may include other facilities such as sport and leisure.

Each year, we will prepare an Annual Monitoring Report to allow progress against the implementation of the Active Travel Strategy Action Plan to be assessed. This will help to keep us on track and in line with the National Transport Strategy’s sustainable transport priorities.

Key strategy targets include: 

• Increasing the number of journeys to work using active travel means 
• Increasing the number of cycle parking spaces at local amenities, key employment centres, transport links and Town and Community hubs
• Introducing additional walking, wheeling and cycling connections to provide links to key destinations and local community hubs
• Encouraging the uptake of schemes associated with active travel 
• Increasing the number of directional/wayfinding signs to aid people to reach their destinations
• Targeted improvements to active travel in areas with recognised issues on the list of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation indicators and combating potential transport poverty

This strategy seeks to redress some of the historic transport network imbalance across North Lanarkshire away from the private car and towards active travel.

Around 13% of Scotland’s motorway network is located in North Lanarkshire, with the M73, M74, M8 and M80 providing strategic links for the private car and some bus services around and beyond North Lanarkshire. In addition, there are various rail lines linking the towns and wider destinations, including the wider Central Scotland urban rail network. Much of the existing transport network benefits those with access to a car, but can present challenges or create a significant barriers to those without access to a private car.

Data from Transport Scotland’s Transport and Travel in Scotland Report 2019 shows that many of the journeys undertaken within North Lanarkshire are under 5km. This high percentage of trips under 5km indicates a great potential for increasing modal shift to travel by walking, wheeling or cycling. Currently, 31% of households across North Lanarkshire have no access to a car for private use. It is essential that active travel options are accessible, attractive and affordable to reach services, employment, education and training opportunities across our area.

The proposed active travel network will be developed not only with the Town and Community Hubs in mind but will incorporate key findings from previously conducted sustainable transport studies.

Key themes for the improvement of sustainable transport across the studies included a desire to:

• Provide greater priority to sustainable transport modes and improve the existing active travel network
• Improve integration between different modes of transport 
• Provide transport interventions that will make it easier to travel around the area
• Provide transport interventions that will improve quality of life
• Improve safety and perceptions of safety
• Deliver improvements that enhance the towns as ‘places’ to live, work and visit

A wide range of interventions and improvement types have been proposed in order to realise the key themes for improvement identified from the previous studies including:

• Improved crossing facilities for people walking, wheeling and cycling; particularly at key journey origins or destinations such as rail stations
• Greater provision of street lighting in existing underpasses and other areas on the active travel network where lighting is currently considered poor
• Undertake a Council-wide signage and wayfinding review to identify gaps in the network, developing a consistent strategy for signage and improving route navigation and promotion
• Greater provision of cycle parking, cycle hire and bike maintenance schemes
• Identify and address known gaps in the active travel network to create more direct and desirable routes
• Work with rail operators to improve integration of cycling with rail journeys
• Improve active travel accessibility to workplaces and schools
• Introduce Integrated Travel Hubs at suitable locations
• Explore feasibility of developing cross-boundary links for active travel with other local authorities and partners

Strategic and wider active travel connections

A key aspiration of the Active Travel Strategy is to help provide safe, attractive and high-quality active travel infrastructure which helps facilitate people across North Lanarkshire to make everyday journeys by walking, wheeling or cycling. The key to achieving this strategy is creating and improving links not only within our towns but between our towns and beyond to the wider region. Providing these strategic connections will help ensure that our whole region is fully connected and help encourage people to travel by more active and sustainable means.

The below map is interactive. Please click on the buttons on the left menu below to switch layers on and off. The map legend can be accessed using the button on the bottom left corner of the map and you can zoom in and out using the controls on the bottom right corner.

Working alongside key partners, we have assessed this wider active travel network to identify where there are currently gaps and where improvements could be made. Existing route options and active travel desire lines for these strategic destinations included routes between:

• Airdie
• Bellshill
• Coatbridge
• Cumbernauld
• Kilsyth
• Motherwell
• Shotts
• Wishaw
• Neighbouring Local Authorities
• Strathclyde Country Park
• Drumpellier Country Park
• Palacerigg Country Park
• Eurocentral
• Biocity
• Newhouse Industrial Estate
• Strathclyde Business Park
• Gartcosh Business Park
• Ravenscraig

Assessing these wider and strategic active travel desire lines allowed us to form the basis of our proposed active travel networks, linking all of North Lanarkshire and beyond.

The proposed Active Travel Network will include the following: 

The Strategic Active Travel Network will connect our key towns, providing direct, high-quality active travel links along main arterial routes that provide an attractive and sustainable travel option between our key towns. The network will provide safe and attractive shared use walking, wheeling and cycling links that have a buffer to separate them from main roads. Many of the key existing active travel links in North Lanarkshire such as the National Cycle Network would form part of the Strategic Active Travel Network. The improvement and promotion of these strategic routes will help demonstrate how even those wider journeys between towns can be achieved through more active and sustainable modes of travel. This could provide new opportunities for those with limited access to other modes of transport.

The Local Neighbourhood Active Travel Network will provide vital local connections within our towns and direct links to our wider connecting routes. These routes will link key local destinations, town centres, transport hubs and provide active travel links to local areas of employment, education, services and training. These links will largely consist of shared use facilities similar to the Strategic Active Travel Network but will utilise a greater number of off-road paths and local links. Most importantly these routes will link to our proposed Town and Community Hubs; around which further local improvements such as traffic speed reduction, traffic calming, improved crossing facilities, accessibility improvements and other dedicated walking, wheeling and cycling facilities will be introduced.

The Connecting Active Travel Networks will also be developed in locations where there are opportunities to develop key active travel routes that are outwith the proposed Strategic or Local Neighbourhood Active Travel Network proposals. These routes could feature on-road cycling on quiet rural roads or seek to improve existing shared use facilities along routes which may be utilised more for recreational cycling rather than everyday use.

The below map is interactive. Please click on the buttons on the left menu below to switch layers on and off. The map legend can be accessed using the button on the bottom left corner of the map and you can zoom in and out using the controls on the bottom right corner.

With our proposals for Strategic, Local Neighbourhood and Connecting Active Travel Networks in place, we will also work with key partners and third parties to explore areas where further improvements can be made.

Close and collaborative working alongside these key partners is an important factor for success in delivering an integrated and far-reaching active travel network both across North Lanarkshire and beyond our Council area boundary.

The map below shows where previous aspirational active travel routes have been identified by partners or through previous studies. This strategy has taken cognisance of existing and proposed off-road routes within North Lanarkshire to develop the overall network and provide wider and local connections for the local population.

We will engage with key partners to deliver these routes and networks where appropriate, including contributing to proposals and aspirations for the following:

• National Cycle Network 
• Central Scotland Green Network 
• Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Strategic Access Network
• Routes associated with the Clydeplan
• Northern Corridor Community Volunteers identified opportunity routes

The below map is interactive. Please click on the buttons on the left menu below to switch layers on and off. The map legend can be accessed using the button on the bottom left corner of the map and you can zoom in and out using the controls on the bottom right corner.

Providing links between hubs and other key local destinations will provide the greatest potential for encouraging greater uptake of active travel in our area. Our Town and Community Hubs and the surrounding neighbourhood areas will become key focus areas for improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling facilities. The promotion of dedicated Active Travel Hubs around these facilities will be explored with the potential to facilitate programmes such as the provision of e-bikes, bike libraries, cycle training and other behaviour change activities. To support our Town and Community Hubs we will introduce:

The Action Plan outlines the active travel networks we propose to introduce across our area along with the additional associated measures we are aiming to undertake for the improvement of active travel provision and its uptake across North Lanarkshire.

The actions have been divided into: 

• Community Hub Improvements - local improvements to the areas surrounding the new Town and Community Hubs; alongside creating dedicated routes to link the hubs to town centres and key transport links
• Strategic Active Travel Network Routes - routes which are along main arterial routes and will link key destinations
• Local Neighbourhood and Connecting Active Travel Network Routes - links to local destinations such as Town Centres, Town and Community Hubs, local transport links, local amenities, education and employment
• Other Actions - Complementary measures that will help to promote and encourage walking, wheeling and cycling for everyday travel across our area and for the overall improvement of our active travel network

Each action has been assigned a priority ranking of High, Medium or Low. Higher priority interventions are considered as those to have the greatest benefit for the widest number of users and should be prioritised for implementation before other priority interventions. These high priority routes could have the potential to open up wider links with other existing or proposed active travel routes. Lower priority routes might not provide the same network connections but could be considered important for leisure trips.

For many of the actions other local authorities and organisations will be involved in the development and delivery of these actions. The Action Plan identifies some key delivery partners for each action, however as these actions develop and our taken forward a more detailed list of delivery partners and local groups will be developed for each action. These partners could include community councils, community groups, schools etc.