Comments on Wrexham’s INM

Using the map linked to in my previous post, I’ve generated the following feedback on Wrexham’s INM. I’ve sent this into the council including marked up map screenshots.

Hopefully this feedback is useful to the council. If you agree or disagree with any of the comments I’ve made, then do tell the council via their consultation.

Chirk
Chirk to Froncysyllte. The canal route is only suited to mountain bikes and leisure purposes, a route alongside the A5 would be faster and more convenient for active travel.

Fully segregated cycle path should be included up to the infant school, junior school, leisure centre and library gates. This is a cluster of destinations ideally suited to arrival on foot or by bike.

Trevor
The old railway line from Trevor to Llangollen is part of Denbighshire’s INM. It might be worth considering listing continuing this path up to the border as an aspirational route.

Acrefair / Plas Madoc
The A539 is a welcome inclusion as this main route feels treacherous to cycle along. However the diversion in Plas Madoc onto the residential street will slow travel speed down due to junctions, and adds hills into the route. The route should continue along the A539.

Ruabon
The route along the B5605 should start sooner, rather than diverting through the housing estate. The housing estate diversion is slow due to junctions and bend, and parked cars make it difficult to use.

The A539 roundabout is difficult for cyclists to use, and inclusion of an alternative route from Park Road (B5605 West of roundabout) to Ruabon would be welcome.

Rhosllanerchrugog
There is a gap in cycling provision along the B5605, Ruabon Road. This is a key link to and from the Vauxhall Industrial Estate.

Two way cycling is allowed through Rhos High street, but this doesn’t seem to be included in the INM.

Pen-Y-Cae
Continuing the path along the old Rhos Branch railway, Southbound, to join the B5097 would make this path more useful. Currently a very narrow footpath which is difficult to access performs this role.
Parked cars on Copperas Hill make access to the Infants school difficult, although from The Afoneitha estate access to the school via Coed Y Nant perhaps makes more sense anyway.
Rhostyllen
The inclusion of what looks like an upgraded Esless Lane is welcome. However the most convenient route for people to Travel from Rhostyllen towards Wrexham town centre is along Wrexham Road (A5152). The route highlighted below should be included as a shared use or cycling path. This could then form a continuous route from Ruabon to Wrexham, a ‘super-highway’, acting as a trunk for the network to the West of the town.
Wrexham Town Centre (NB: dedicated map not provided)
The town centre seems to have a lot of roads without any provision for cyclists on either dedicated cycle paths or shared use paths on the INM.
The town centre is a key destination for anyone living in the area. Town centre roads are amongst the busiest in the area and people using active travel require most assistance along these roads.
There are numerous roads without provision on the INM. A few key omissions include Watery Road, Pentrefelin, Hill Street, King Street (interchange with public transport), Powell Road, Grosvenor Road.
Wrexham Town South
There appears to be a gap in provision along Ruthin Road(A525) between Ysgol Bryn Offa and the junction with the A483. Provision along Croesnewydd Road is also omitted from the INM, this is a key route to the Hospital and business areas.

There appears to be a gap in provision along Abenbury Road.

Allowing two way cycle traffic along Bennion’s road in Hightown could be beneficial.

Wrexham Town North
Holt road (A534) appears to have a gap in provision. This is a key arterial route into the town centre from the East of town and should have a continuous route.

There appears to be a gap in provision along the B5425 between Stansty and Rhosrobin;

Rhosnesni lane currently features some cycling infrastructure, but it is not noted on the INM. The infrastructure, party shared, currently takes a long winded route, weaving back and forth. An upgrade would be welcome here.

Gwersyllt
There appears to be a gap in provision along the B5425 between Rhosrobin and Plas Acton Road.

Wrexham Industrial Estate
The inclusion of a path alongside the new link road is very welcome.

 

Wrexham Integrated Network Map 2018

Wrexham Council are consulting for the second time on their draft Active Travel Integrated Network Map. The official consultation documents can be found here.

To make it easier for me, I plotted all of the cycling and shared routes on MapHub. You can see the result here.

An interactive map can help in understanding the proposals

Why do this?

Unfortunately I found the official maps quite difficult to understand. I found the colours unhelpful, and that the settlement by settlement approach made it difficult to join up a route in my head. I think that viewing the proposed routes on an interactive map with plain background really helps make the proposals clearer.

Questions

I’m still unsure on a couple of points – I’ll clarify these with the council and post an update;

• Are existing routes included? – Some existing routes are on the INM, but not all. Where no data was provided, I haven’t mapped routes that I know exist. For example, no maps were provided for Wrexham Industrial Estate, so I’ve not mapped the routes on the estate. Also, there are a few existing routes omitted from the maps that have been provided, e.g. Offa’s Dyke Shared Use Path in Ruabon was omitted, and Cefn Road – Redwither Road Cyclepath in Wrexham Town South was also omitted. I thought perhaps that existing routes were not mapped, but in some places existing routes have been mapped.
• Which route is which? – It wasn’t always clear which route was which, especially in Wrexham town centre where there are numerous routes. The route naming convention also seemed inconsistent at times – perhaps I just didn’t get it.

Usage

I hope that you can use the interactive map along with the consultation documents to respond to the consultation. I’ve only the cycling and shared routes. I will add walking routes when time allows. If you spot any errors, please do let me know.

Carrying cargo

Adding a trailer to any bike to increases it’s utility massively.

Bicycle trailers and specific cargo bikes are used all around the world. Cargo carrying bikes are also gaining in popularity in the UK. In Llangollen you see kids in bicycle trailers, and recently I’ve been experimenting with what else you can carry…

Taking our green-bin to the recycling collection point

Picking up 3 large bags of compost

Carrying kids and the kitchen sink in a homemade trailer

For health and wealth we should subsidise electric bikes not electric cars

Electric bikes (e-bikes) promote an active lifestyle and can help reduce traffic issues. However they can be seen as expensive to purchase. An extended trial scheme could help combat this issue by allowing people to see how an e-bike could transform their lives. E-bikes deserve at least as much attention from government as electric cars.

E-bikes reduce effort for the user

Politicians are keen that Wales does not get left behind in terms of electric car charge points. The rational is that the market’s failure to deliver points means that the government should step in. Perhaps this is true, however an environmentally and economically sustainable transport hierarchy places promotion of private vehicles down at the bottom.

Where street space is at a premium charging points actually take space away from other users.

While electric cars go some way to address air pollution issues, they do not reduce the amount of traffic on the roads, and neither do they address poor health due to inactivity.

Cycling without electrical assistance offers the most benefits to the user and society. However for many people the idea of struggling up a hill after a long day at work is just not desirable. Arriving sweaty at the office in the morning just doesn’t appeal. This is where e-bikes come in.

Modern e-bikes deliver powerful assistance over many miles, and with built in lights and built in mudguards overcome many convienience issues. No more struggling up hills, no danger of arriving tired or sweaty. While at the same time, being as e-bike assistance level can be varied, users can benefit from being active.

An extended trial scheme would allow users to experience the benefit to their lives

There is only one problem. Compared to an un-assisted bicycle, they appear to be very expensive. Many governments around Europe already offer e-bike subsidies. The UK government also recently considered it.

I believe that the Welsh government should focus spend on cycling infrastructure. But they, or perhaps the NHS could look to spend a small amount of money on an e-bike subsidy. For the NHS this would be money well spent if looking to target those people who are currently least active. If a subsidy is out of the question, then maybe a trial scheme could be useful.

Demos are great, but finding out whether a bike is worth the investment in a short demo is difficult.

Many e-bike shops offer a 48 hour trial for a fee redeemable against a purchase. This fee can be quite hefty. Also to test whether an ebike can really fit with your lifestyle, a trial over a few weeks would be far more useful.

The market is failing to deliver trials that would allow users to see how an e-bike could transform their lives.

So an alternative to a direct subsidy could be setting up a national hire/trial scheme so that people can give an e-bike a good go before committing to a purchase.

As we dash for electric, let’s not forget the humble bicycle and all of the benefits it can offer to individuals and society.

 

 

 

 

Active Travel Consultation – Bring in the enthusiasts!

Could Active Travel consultation be improved by engaging a volunteer workforce?

Those who already walk and cycle may well be willing to help authorities with the consultation process.

There are walking and cycling enthusiasts all around Wales. When local authorities consulted with ‘the public’ about Active Travel I’d bet that the most vocal responses came from enthusiasts, people who love walking or cycling.

Reaching out to those beyond the usual suspects can be difficult and time consuming. With limited resources, the breadth of consultation carried out by authorities while developing integrated network maps seems to have varied considerably.

During scrutiny of the act Lee Waters asked, given austerity, what more can be done to reach people who currently do not walk and cycle? Transport Policy Team Leader, Natalie Grohmann commented that some authorities, “have done coffee mornings and all sorts of innovative things that you wouldn’t normally associate with a walking and cycling consultation.” Perhaps when best practise filters through, and if capital resource becomes available, all authorities will be able to do this.

If resource does not increase, then I have a suggestion on how to improve consultation: Harness the enthusiasts. Engage with local enthusiasts and ask these ‘usual suspects’ of the cycling and walking world to organise consultation events in their local area.

If my local authority had asked me to help with consultation, I could easily have organised a couple of meetings. I could have popped in and spoken with people at the school, health centre and library. I could have posted in local online forums, and contacted local groups with just a few phone calls. It really wouldn’t have taken that much effort.

Perhaps departments looking after active travel could, before the next round of consultation, look to set up working groups or to appoint a local champion in every locality. If local champions were provided with basic guidance and templates, then  consistent results could be ensured.

Sustrans already have a scheme for Community Volunteers. Perhaps there could be a tie in between local authorities and the scheme. Hopefully I’m not speaking out of turn – perhaps this tie in is happening already! But if it is happening, I haven’t heard it mentioned in the Act Travel Act scrutiny process. I’d be happy to be corrected.

It may be that managing volunteers is harder than just going out and doing the work. It may be that not enough volunteers can be found. But won’t know unless we ask and give it a go – surely it’s worth a trial?

Fast electric bikes for Wales?

Fast electric bikes could encourage people with longer commutes to travel by bike. Unlike in many European countries, the UK has not legislated to allow these bikes on the road. Could Wales lead the way to allow their use and boost active travel?

Fast e-bikes are normal in Germany and The Netherlands

We’ve had electric bikes, ‘e-bikes’, in the UK for a number of years. Faster e-bikes, known as ‘s-pedelecs’ or ‘speed-pedelecs’, are an emerging trend in Europe. S-pedelecs are more powerful than standard e-bikes and can travel at faster speeds. European users can enjoy longer commutes so long as they adhere to basic safety precautions. However these bikes are not currently not an option on UK roads.

Using a fast e-bike or ‘s-pedelec’ in the UK involves a long and tricky registration process, insurance, checks and a motorcycle helmet. Essentially UK law sees these bikes as mopeds. All of this means getting one of this new breed of fast e-bikes onto the road legally is simply not worthwhile. A cycling magazine recently looked into the process and described it here. But it doesn’t have to be this way. These bikes are not mopeds, and with some precautions, as required in Germany and The Netherlands, they can provide an excellent mode of transport.

Online cycling magazine ‘e-bike tips’, found registering an s-pedelec prohibitive

Currently available e-bikes are fantastic for hilly terrain, and allow those with even moderate fitness to make active travels journeys they otherwise would not have thought possible.

However for longer commutes even e-bikes are not always practical. According to Welsh Active Travel guidance, people prefer an active travel journey to take no more than 45 minutes. Travelling at 12mph average, this gives people a maximum range of about 9 miles. An ebike travelling at 15mph average gives people a range of 11.25 miles. A speed-ebike or s-pedelec travelling at 25mph would give people a range of nearly 19 miles within their 45 minutes.

The Active Travel Act is currently being brought into focus as it completes post legislative scrutiny. Funding for action on infrastructure has become a talking point, and one that the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates, has promised to address.

S-pedelecs cannot make up for a lack of infrastructure. However, being as new legislation doesn’t use up capital budgets, perhaps the minister could consider introducing new legislation to allow s-pedelec use in Wales.

Rather than insist that s-pedelecs are mopeds, as part of promoting Active Travel, let’s find a middle way and allow Wales to lead the way on s-pedelecs in the UK.

Wrexham Industrial Estate Litter

Lunchtimes can be very productive. In just half an hour I managed to clear a 50m strip of grass adjacent to the Llan-Y-Pwll link road, alongside the cyclepath of (nearly) all litter.

Before and after images

This obviously isn’t a solution to the problem. But at least I can stop moaning about litter on a small bit of the industrial estate. Walking around the estate at lunchtime is a popular activity, if everyone picked up a little rubbish, we could make a real impact. Hopefully enough to prevent the ‘smashed glass’ syndrome of, ‘it’s a mess here, so my rubbish doesn’t matter’ from continuing.

Active Travel and a lack of funding

When the Active Travel Act was introduced in 2013 there were high hopes for transforming walking and cycling in Wales. Progress since 2013 has been slow, a fact acknowledged by Assembly members in 2014.

While the act is currently undergoing scrutiny, funding for the first series of projects has been announced earlier this month. This press release does not contain any details of the 54 chosen projects, but looking around on the Welsh government website I was able to find out more. The full project list can be found here.

For local readers; the two local authorities are Denbighshire and Wrexham;

Denbighshire

Prestatyn/Dyserth Way – Surface and crossing improvements £15k

Ruthin Package – Improvements to NCN 84 £10k

NCN 5 linkages – scheme development promenade to Rhyl Town Centre £20k

Wrexham

No projects

Denbighshire has a population of 94800 people. A total spend of £45k on active travel means 47p per person is being spent on active travel in Denbighshire.

No projects were selected from Wrexham. Spend will be £0 per head.

The total Wales wide spend on active travel is claimed to be £8.1m. This could sound like a lot of money, until you put it next to the Welsh Government’s spend of over £10m on a 1.5 mile link road on Ynys Mon. The overall budget of £8.1m equates to a spend in Wales of £2.61 per head. This is against a spend in London of £12 per head, with an aim in England to spend £10 per head.

Given the low level of funding in Wales, despite the Active Travel Act, it is hardly surprising that active travel levels are static and statistically are falling.

National Cycle Network void

The Sustrans National Cycle Network offers largely leisure routes across Wales. Some routes such as the Taff Trail into Cardiff also see significant use by commuters.

The official Sustrans route from the North to the South of Wales is NCN route 8, Lon Las Cymru. This route goes from Holyhead to Cardiff. The majority of the route is on road, but there are some reasonably long off-road stretches. This route is ok as a leisure route, but doesn’t serve well as a conduit to further network development.

Networks, such as railway networks are often built from a number of trunks, connecting large conurbations. Out from the trunks come branches which can then connect to small local networks.

Wrexham is the 5th largest settlement in Wales, and the largest in the North, however the National Cycle Network does not visit Wrexham at all. There have been plans for NCN route 85 to go from Chester to Wrexham and then Wrexham to Trevor for Llangollen, but only the last bit of this, from Trevor to Llangollen has come to fruition.

And so we are left with a highly populated area of Wales devoid of any link to the National Cycle Network.

An area of high population density not being served by the National Cycle Network

 

It’s not clear from the sustrans website whether Route 85 will progress any further. Here is the webpage: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/route-85

There is a solution. This area, especially around Wrexham was once very well served by various railways.

Various railways shown include The Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway, Llangollen Railway and Pontcysyllte branch. Map © Richard Fairhurst 2001-2018.

This old network could be brought back into use as a network of cycleways. Rhyl to St Asaph already forms the beginnings of the Lon Clwyd project. This can be continued to Ruthin, and even Corwen. Corwen links to Bala and Llangollen via quiet roads. Rhyl to Ruthin has been proposed before, and not without controversy, but times are changing and a slowly and steady approach may see this project completed.

Mold to Wrexham is an important link, and by continuing the route north, to create a circular route, we could have a brilliant resource for leisure use. But by joining so many communities we will also have an incredibly useful utility route.

 

Poncysyllte Branch Cycleway between Pant and Rhosllanerchrugog

This multiuser off-road pathway is less than half a mile long at approximately 550metres. The pathway follows the route of the old Poncysyllte Branch railway which ran from Trevor to Rhos.

The path is an excellent example of high quality infrastructure for walking and cycling. It has joining points in mutliple places and exists in a populated area, but away from the dangerous feeling main road nearby. To join does require people on bikes to dismount, which is a pain, but still worthwhile.

Smooth tarmac providing a safe and conveinient route into and out of Rhos

The branch line from Pant to Rhos in 1989

South of Pant the route of the old line has been preserved as a footpath which continues towards Plas Benion Road. This footpath is reasonably well surfaced, but isn’t suitable for a road bike. As it gets close to Plas Benion Road it deteriorates significantly and requires wellies as a minimum!

The branch line connected Trevor, Acrefair and Pen-Y-Cae before serving the Brick Works in Rhos and contining on to the works in Llwyneinion. An extension was added to serve Rhostyllen and join the mainline just outside Wrexham near Felin Puleston.

Between Rhos and Wrexham (Felin Puleston) very little has been built on the old route. Some sections have public footpaths running along them and the last part of the line from Rhostyllen station to Felin Puleston is a walking route.