Cycling strategy

What we plan to do

  1. Over the period of this strategy we intend to deliver the following actions: 
     
  • Action 1 – Support a change in culture which prompts a switch to cycling as a healthy and sustainable way to travel, delivering initiatives such as cycle training
     
  • Action 2 – Develop a network of routes suitable for everyday cycling, designed in line with good practice  
     
  • Action 3 – Make our town centres and destinations accessible for everyone cycling, including e.g. visitors to the borough; people using adapted cycles; and businesses using cargo bikes 
     
  • Action 4 – Improve connectivity between cycling and other forms of transport, making it easier to cycle as part of a longer journey and multi-modal trips 
     
  • Action 5 – Design everyday cycling into our infrastructure and regeneration plans and use digital information so that the highway network better serves people cycling 

 Adults who cycle regularly typically enjoy a level of fitness equivalent to someone 10 years younger[1]. 

Action 1

Support a change in culture which prompts a switch to cycling as a healthy and sustainable way to travel, delivering initiatives such as cycle training   

  1. We will continue to invest substantially in initiatives which improve cycling, walking, wheeling and public transport. 
     
  2. We will encourage people to take part in everyday cycling. We will build on how we engage with cycling stakeholders and delivery partners, and will develop a collaborative approach to the identification, development and implementation of cycling interventions. 
     
  3. Through the Go Smarter in North Tyneside programme and our general work with schools, we will work with individual schools to raise awareness among pupils, parents and staff of the impacts of short car journeys; set a target for cycling and encourage walking; and consider changes to streets near schools to encourage more sustainable and active travel.  
     
  4. We will build on the existing ‘School Streets’ schemes we currently have within the borough. The School Streets schemes have been successful in creating an environment that supports children and their parents to get to school by cycling, walking, wheeling, child’s scooters, or ‘park and stride’ from a nearby parking location. 
     
  5. We will deliver cycle training to young people through schools in the borough. The national standard Bikeability training has been extended in scope and, alongside the well-established cycle training at age 9-10, now includes e.g. training for younger children to develop their confidence in riding, using small pedal-free ‘balance bikes’. We will explore opportunities to expand cycle training to adults and build people’s confidence in cycling independently. 
     
  6. As part of the Go Smarter in North Tyneside programme we will support existing developments and encourage new developments through the planning process to promote sustainable travel. 
     
  7. We will work with partners to promote everyday cycling more widely in the community, e.g. through the Active North Tyneside programme which promotes healthy lifestyles.  
     
  8. Through joint working, we will champion cycling. We will ensure that there is a corporate approach across areas of work, including Public Health, Highways, Planning and Tourism, to the promotion of everyday cycling in North Tyneside 
     

Action 2

Develop a network of routes suitable for everyday cycling, designed in line with good practice  

  1. We will design infrastructure, including within our regeneration activity, which makes cycling journeys direct, gives priority to cycling, minimises ‘stop-start’ conditions, and is easily understandable to navigate. On routes which carry motorised through traffic we will seek to provide separate cycling infrastructure, including more recent types of infrastructure which gives priority to cycling [5]. We will reallocate road space to provide good quality cycling infrastructure. On quieter residential roads we will seek to ensure that the design supports cycling and walking particularly. 
     
  2. We will develop a network of routes which supports and encourages people of all ages to cycle for everyday trips including work, school, college, local shops, town and district centres and for recreation. This will include:
    1. Strategic Cycle Routes, shown on the ‘tube map’ (see Appendix 1) – corridors where high standard infrastructure gives priority to cycling and supports direct journeys with minimal stopping and starting;
    2. a grid of local routes, including traffic-calmed streets and traffic-free routes, with the aim that everyone is within 250m of a cycle route – consideration will be given to opportunities for filtered permeability through the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (further information on these can be found within the North Tyneside Cycling Design Guide);
    3. links in town centres and district centres, making them welcoming places for residents and visitors arriving by bike – this will include exploring opportunities for communal cycle facilities e.g. a cycle hub with cycle storage and changing facilities; and
    4. routes such as the Waggonways, which are away from streets and roads. 
       
  3. Our designs will take account of the many variations to a standard two-wheeled bike, such as:
  • cycles designed for carrying children;
  • cycles for people with disabilities, including hand-operated cycles;
  • cycles with trailers – for the family shopping or ‘cargo bikes’ which carry light goods; and
  • folding cycles – great for trips which combine cycling with other modes of transport. 

Any of these may also be an e-bike, where the rider operates the pedals as normal and an electric motor provides additional power. We will allow for the wider take-up of e-bikes in the design of infrastructure. We will design schemes so as to discourage motor vehicle parking on cycling infrastructure and where appropriate we will consider introducing legal orders allowing enforcement. 
 

  1. In line with government guidance, we have identified a network of cycling routes (and a similar network for walking routes within town centres) with strong potential for growth and route improvements, which can then be secured as part of new developments, regeneration projects or specific grant-funded schemes. This is known as a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) and is located within Appendix 4 of this document. The LCWIP will complement our Network Management Plan, which sets out how we manage the operation of the highway network.  
     
  2. Our planning guidance, through the Transport and Highways Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), sets out the improvements which developments brought forward through the planning process are required to provide. This requires developers both to provide high quality cycling infrastructure in line with the Department for Transport’s LTN1/20 guidance and secure cycle parking provision, and to adopt travel plans which include measures to promote everyday cycling. 
     
  3. We have adopted a Cycling Design Guide which specifies the design features we will require for streets in North Tyneside to support everyday cycling, and will keep it updated to reflect the latest best practice. This will apply to all transport schemes, whether or not they are specific to cycling; to the design of regeneration projects; and to new developments brought forward through the planning process. 

 Switching from car to bike for a four-mile commute saves half a tonne of CO2 in a year – reducing the average person’s carbon footprint by 5%

Action 3

Make our town centres and destinations accessible for everyone cycling, including e.g. visitors to the borough; people using adapted cycles; and businesses using cargo bikes 
 

  1. We will continue to support the attractiveness of the borough’s town centres and district centres as places to spend time for residents and visitors: this includes supporting accessibility by cycling, as well as walking and wheeling, and creating a sense of place. We are implementing the masterplan for North Shields and have committed in the Our North Tyneside Plan to bring forward masterplans for Wallsend and Whitley Bay town centres. We have also committed to bring investment and improvements to the North West area of the borough and ensure that our investment delivers ambition, opportunity and benefits for all residents. 
     
  2. Cycle parking provision will be considered as part of all regeneration activity and cycle route enhancements. We will look to provide cycle parking which is appropriate to the end destination. This provision could include standard ‘Sheffield’ cycle stands where a bike can be parked quickly; or, where appropriate, provision such as lockable cycle ‘hangars’ which are more secure and appropriate to overnight parking. 
     
  3. We will continue to work with businesses to improve the uptake of measures which support cycling and which substitute cycling for motorised trips. This will include promoting the use of cargo bikes and ensuring applications received through the planning processes provide suitable end user facilities such as cycle parking, showers and drying rooms. 
     

Two-thirds of all journeys made in the North East are under 5 miles – the kind of journeys which can easily be made by cycling. 

Action 4

Improve connectivity between cycling and other forms of transport, making it easier to cycle as part of a longer journey 

  1. We will work with other local authorities in the region, Nexus, Transport North East, public transport operators and wider partners to promote multi-modal travel and on proposals which would integrate cycling with bus, rail and Metro.  
     
  2. Public transport services benefit from more customers if people can easily cycle to a stop or station. We will work with partners to ensure that high-quality cycle parking is provided at new or refurbished public transport stations and interchanges. 
     
  3. Cycle hire is a service already offered by local businesses in the borough. We will consider potential options, where there is market interest, for cycle hire or loan initiatives, which could include options for forms of public cycle hire provision.  
     
  4. Cycles are carried on board the Shields Ferry, which provides a valuable link in the public transport network. The Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist Tunnels, which have provided a valuable link between destinations on both sides of the Tyne since 1951, reopened in August 2019 following refurbishment work. 
     
  5. The new Metro fleet which will be brought into service by Nexus has been designed to accommodate cycles. On the existing Metro fleet standard bikes can be carried on much of the network, including all stations in North Tyneside, at off‑peak times on weekdays and all day at weekends. Northumberland Park will be the first National Rail station in the borough following completion of the Northumberland Line major project. 

By providing widespread protected cycle tracks, Seville, in Spain, increased cycling journeys from 0.2% to 6.6% in six years

Action 5

Design everyday cycling into our infrastructure and regeneration plans and use digital information so that the highway network better serves people cycling

  1. We will seek to improve co-ordination of traffic signals and travel time monitoring, with the potential for some improvements to traffic signal phasing, which may include detecting cycles on the approach to a junction. 
     
  2. We will seek additional opportunities to use technology to improve the operation of the highway network and support easier journeys for everyday cycling. 
     
  3. We will explore the opportunities for new ways to communicate and engage with stakeholders on a regular basis. 
     
  4. We will continue, through our maintenance programmes, to ensure that the cycling network surface is maintained to a good standard and support associated measures such as cutting back encroaching vegetation. We will continue to identify improvements which can be implemented alongside our maintenance programme, delivered through our Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP). We will seek to ensure that temporary road closures and restrictions, e.g. for street works, include exemptions for cycling or specific diversionary routes for cycles.  

Young people aged 10-16 who regularly cycle to school are 30% more likely (boys) or 7 times more likely (girls) to meet recommended fitness levels [8].