CPRE Cheshire response to Cheshire West & Chester transport consultation

In our response to CWAC’s summer 2025 Local Transport Plan (LTP) consultation, we welcome key sustainability ambitions. These include a possible target of a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from transport by 2030. However, we note several important omissions and make further recommendations.

Our submission builds on the feedback we gave to an earlier LTP consultation held in January 2024 on ‘The Case for Change’.  This latest consultation – on the LTP Core Strategy – closes on 17th August 2025.

Read on for a summary of our responses.

About your journeys

In response to questions about the positive aspects of transport in the region and the biggest challenges, we highlighted the following:

Positive aspects of transport in the region:

• The existence of a bus service improvement plan and experiments with demand responsive transfer.
• The funding awarded by central government for a bus franchising trial.
• The fact that the council has been engaging in a speed limit review and already has a policy allowing for 20mph speed limits in appropriate residential roads.
• The securing of funding for extensive EV infrastructure.

Transport challenges:

• Alarming lack of data on how residents travel.
• The provision of decent and affordable public transport to all (particularly in light of the Council’s admission that supplying public transport to rural areas of west Cheshire is challenging).
• Poor air quality around the Chester bus interchange – this could be improved if all vehicles using the interchange were electric.
• Lack of a plan for re-opening Beeston railway station, the business case for which has been approved by central government.

Vision

The vision currently does not reference climate change. We suggest the following amendment: ‘A fairer and more sustainable transport system which enables a stronger, thriving future whilst addressing climate change’.

We also note that the Council must ensure it is testing emissions and air quality on an ongoing basis to track what impact policies are having.

Options

The bulk of the consultation document is in the form of options offered for ranking.

Overall policy

In our responses, we prioritise the importance of improving digital connectivity to reduce the need to travel and allow people to work from home. We link to CPRE’s transport policy and sustainable transport hierarchy.

We also support:

• Making it easier, safer and more attractive to travel by walking, cycling and public transport.
• Ensuring essential services are built close to the places where we live.
• Working with schools, workplaces and other destinations to reduce the need to travel at peak times.

Our priorities here include:

• Better footpaths, cycle routes, bus and rail stops, supporting active lifestyles.
• Better stations and services, with connected, resilient and sustainable access for rural communities.
• Integrating transport with new developments.
• Affordable travel options.
• Cross-operator ticketing alongside co-ordinated bus and train schedules.
• Protecting local landscapes, wildlife and heritage sites, creating new green spaces and improving access to nature, and boosting resilience to climate change.

We say that bus services should call at all railway stations – this option is not offered in the consultation.

Roads

We stress that highways policy should focus on keeping roads in good condition. Highway capacity should be increased only if there is a strong safety case for it, not just to accommodate more cars.

We state our support for reallocating existing road space for public transport and active travel, pointing out that this option is not offered for ranking in the consultation.

Ongoing consultation

We also stress that ongoing consultations with the community about the future of transport must continue, and note that Cheshire West and Chester do not seem to have offered the option of remote meetings for this purpose as yet.

Peckforton Hills Quiet Lanes

As a final point, we ask for a commitment to making the Peckforton Hills a ‘Quiet Lanes’ area. This was a promise in the first LTP (produced by Cheshire County Council), but never taken forward due to lack of funding.

More information

CPRE Cheshire full response to CW&C Local Transport Plan

CW&C Local Transport Plan consultation

CPRE Transport Policy (including our sustainable transport hierarchy).