Despite securing over 1,400 signatures from members of the public in support of safe, segregated cycling infrastructure along the A6, Lancashire County Council’s response fails to meaningfully engage with the urgency and specificity of our request.
While the Council acknowledges the public support and mentions that it will inform their long-term planning, their reply primarily outlines bureaucratic processes and delays. They cite the existence of over 800 identified zones and 1,000s of schemes within their Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs), and explain that these need to go through a lengthy prioritisation process—without giving any timeline or concrete commitment to the A6 scheme we proposed.
They mention that a previous plan for the A6 (linked to the now-defunct Housing Infrastructure Fund) is no longer viable due to funding being withdrawn, but offer no clear alternative. Instead, they defer responsibility to future strategy documents, such as the Lancaster Sustainable Travel Strategy, and the yet-to-be-formed Sustainable Travel Team.
We believe this response is disappointing and evasive. It avoids direct engagement with the core issues raised in our petition: the safety risks faced by cyclists on the A6, the lack of accessible active travel routes, and the urgent need for infrastructure that enables low-carbon, affordable, and equitable transport.
This response gives the impression that the Council is attempting to close down further discussion rather than work with the community on a clear and time-sensitive solution. Deferring action to unspecified future plans and teams—without any commitment to interim safety improvements or short-term progress—is not an acceptable outcome given the strength of public support and the severity of the current problems.
We call on Lancashire County Council to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves, re-open meaningful dialogue, and commit to concrete next steps for delivering a safe cycling route along the A6 between Lancaster city centre and the university.
Here is their original response:
We appreciate the time and effort taken to promote your petition and secure over 1,400 signatures. This weight of public support for active travel infrastructure along the A6, south of Lancaster city centre, can be used to inform our decision making when prioritising and selecting schemes.
Our suite of seven LCWIP (Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan) documents covering the county gained political approval in May 2024, so we are currently working through an exercise of prioritising identified routes/schemes and ensuring links to other policy work and funding opportunities. Given there are over 800 routes/zones identified in these plans, which will be broken down into 1000s of deliverable schemes, going through an objective prioritisation process will take time, but we are progressing this task.
Having a defined network plan in the LCWIPs will help to ensure more effective investment in infrastructure, as schemes will link into the broader network and facilitate more journeys. The network plan provides a focus for requesting contributions through the planning system and other funding opportunities.
Lancashire County Council have developed a scheme for the A6 heading south from Lancaster city centre, but this was part of the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) work linked to development at Bailrigg. As the HIF funding is no longer available, we are looking for different options to be able to deliver this scheme. Future scheme development in the area will reference the Lancaster Sustainable Travel Strategy, which Lancaster City Council are developing as part of their Local Plan refresh, with support and input from the County Council.
Lancashire County Council are in the process of recruiting to a new Sustainable Travel Team, to help develop our expertise and capacity. This team will look to take every opportunity to help to drive forward the delivery of active travel projects across the county.
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Website: https://council.lancashire.gov.uk/mgEPetitionListDisplay.aspx?bcr=1