The City of Stoke-on-Trent Council is transforming the way people can travel with safer and more accessible walking and cycling routes. The city’s first Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) aims to make it easier for people of all ages on foot, using bicycles and mobility scooters as well as parents pushing buggies – with the overall aim to boost active travel.
The plan recognises that investment in walking and cycling gives people alternative ways of getting around, especially for short journeys, enabling more people to have greater choice while boosting both physical and mental health.
And it will be used to guide future investment, fund bids to Government and other organisations, and help with the design of transport and development schemes to support active travel.
It also identifies key routes and priorities to make active travel safer, more convenient and accessible for everyone – and how to make it easier for people to walk to their nearest bus stop to continue their journey on public transport.
Department for Transport guidance as well as local data on travel patterns, population and road safety have been taken into account in drawing up the plan.
And it incorporates feedback from stakeholders – including local communities, schools and businesses – as well as responses from a public consultation undertaken about priority routes and other issues, such as safety and access.
The consultation, which took place in August and September 2025, highlighted:
- Strong support for safer, better-connected walking and cycling routes across the city.
- A clear call for consistent, continuous cycle routes that don’t “just stop”.
- A desire to see greater promotion of walking and cycling, not just infrastructure delivery.
- The need for active travel to be inclusive and accessible to all users.
The approach ties into the citywide plan to build an integrated transport network that is getting Stoke-on-Trent moving. This includes a new investment of more than £30 million in the bus network and a proactive approach to reduce potholes and improve roads and pavements.
It also fits into the council’s key vision of creating a cleaner, greener and safer Stoke-on-Trent.
Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, infrastructure and regeneration, said:
“This is all about giving people more choice in the way they choose to travel around the city, whether that be commuting, travelling to a destination or for health and leisure reasons.
“The plan identifies priority cycling and walking routes for improvement that will make a major contribution to the future citywide route network needed to help us achieve that vision.
“And, by improving conditions for walking and cycling we can create a better sense of an inter-connected city and can promote healthier lifestyles too.”
(Picture: Chris Snape)
