Steer Davies Gleave champions cycling in small towns

The availability of central government funding has undoubtedly had a positive effect on cycling uptake in some of the UK’s cities. However, Steer Davies Gleave has recognised the potential to drive this trend beyond city limits into towns and villages without, necessarily, huge levels of investment.
 
Working alongside Olympian cyclist and British Cycling’s policy advisor, Chris Boardman, we recently developed a set of potential improvements which could revolutionise cycling in West Kirby, a typically small town and home to the Olympian.
 
Richard Crappsley and Carlos Talavera from SDG’s Design for Movement team and SDG’s resident cycling infrastructure expert Adrian Lord, developed plans and a visualisation that showed how, with better public spaces, West Kirby  could be enhanced for pedestrians and cyclists and in turn, for retailers. For example, by making the town centre more of a shared space, the number of cycling trips could increase by 20% in the first year. This could be achieved by reducing the number of car parking spaces by just 2.5% across the town centre and increasing the number of bike spaces.
 
Adrian Lord said, “one of the important lessons from cities like Copenhagen and New York is that giving more and better space to people, rather than vehicles, not only makes streets safer for walking and cycling, it can also help local business by increasing footfall and the amount of time people spend in a place.”
 
The scheme is now being considered by local MP Esther McVey and the West Kirby Council’s transport planners.
 
Further information can be found through British cycling and The Times