Local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP)

Following consultation and close partnership working with Hampshire County Council (HCC) and other stakeholders, the local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP) for East Hampshire was adopted (view decision here) by HCC at their Executive Member decision day on the 6 March 2025, and will now inform the future development of walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure and improvements across the district.

What is an LCWIP?

An LCWIP is a strategic approach to cycling and walking improvements on a local level. The key reasons to develop a LCWIP are:

  • to develop a network of walking and cycling preferred (‘primary’) routes
  • a prioritised programme of work which works as an evidence base to support funding bids
  • sets out the assessments undertaken to support the network, including comprehensive audits of current routes

The LCWIP covers the whole of East Hampshire including areas in the South Downs National Park.

The process of developing the LCWIP has been to understand the scope, gather information, examine the existing network of walking and cycling routes within the district and then to identify the required infrastructure improvements.

Following consultation, further work was undertaken to strategically outline the priority infrastructure schemes within the district where the greatest impact can be achieved, based on a range of metrics including health indicators, available funding, and consultation responses. The result of this was a ranked list of the highest scoring walking and cycling routes to be prioritised by HCC for investment.

Identified schemes may now be developed, subject to funding, in collaboration with East Hampshire’s delivery partners including Hampshire County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, along with internal teams including planning policy and regeneration and economy, as well as the Town and Parish Councils.

The combined adopted document of the LCWIP will provide a robust evidence base for future funding bids and a reference tool to inform other locally emerging policy specific to walking and cycling infrastructure.

Engagement

We have worked to develop the LCWIP by engaging with our partners, stakeholders and the local community to identify the new, and improvements to the existing, walking and cycling infrastructure needed to enable more people to enjoy active travel for utility and recreational trips.

Online public consultation, along with stakeholder briefings, was conducted between 7 October and 17 November 2024, receiving over 600 responses. The feedback from this then informed the prioritisation of primary walking and cycling routes and enabled the incorporation of local knowledge and priorities.

Links to our other strategies and next steps

In addition to informing East Hampshire’s emerging local plan, the LCWIP is a key part of our climate and environment strategy and regeneration and economy strategy.

These strategies commit us to:

  • improve active travel opportunities across the district by working with HCC and other stakeholders to develop the LCWIP and agree prioritised routes
  • complete and adopt the district local cycling and walking infrastructure plan, now complete and led by Hampshire County Council.

Now that the LCWIP has been adopted, it will be used by our planning teams to inform active travel infrastructure considerations in future planning applications. It will also be used by the planning policy team as a transport evidence base document for the emerging local plan.

EHDC Officers will also support HCC and delivery partners to seek and direct external funding (for example Department for Transport Consolidated Active Travel Fund) towards the priority interventions identified within the adopted LCWIP (although this does not preclude investment in projects that were not prioritised in the LCWIP). In line with relevant protocols and if included in relevant plans, local developer contributions funding could also potentially be used towards priority interventions.

Links to information on Hampshire transport policy This includes all of the LCWIPs in Hampshire, including East Hampshire’s, along with county-wide plans, such as HCC’s Local Transport Plan (LTP4) - which is the County Council’s overarching transport document that the East Hampshire LCWIP sits below and aligns with. 

Strategic transport plans and policies - Hampshire County Council

Getting in contact

If you would like to get in touch with the council about the local cycling and walking infrastructure plan, please email placemaking@easthants.gov.uk.