Have your say on shaping your Local Transport Plan

 

Cheshire East Council wants YOUR views on shaping local transport priorities and policies.

The Council has worked with partners to draw up a comprehensive draft Local Transport Plan (LTP). This aims to tie in with the local authority area’s Sustainable Community Strategy and wider ambitions for the area – including boosting the local economy and tackling climate change.

The proposed priorities of the LTP are to ‘ensure a sustainable future’ and ‘create conditions for business growth’.

Now it’s time for YOU to play your part.

Following approval by the Cabinet (Monday, October 18) Cheshire East is holding five weeks of public consultation to seek YOUR views on what the future transport priorities should be for the next 15 years.

A questionnaire has been drawn up which can be filled in and posted or completed online. Later in the New Year, the Council will be consulting on an implementation plan which will transform the strategy into actions.

Council Leader Wesley Fitzgerald said: “Transport and travel is a fundamental part of everyday life and supports a vibrant economy.

“The Local Transport Plan (LTP) aims to capitalise on the strengths of the existing transport system in Cheshire East, including excellent transport links to major centres via the rail and motorway network, and set out a strategy of how we will look to improve it into the future. Good transport connections are integral to our ambitious plans for economic growth and protecting our environment to ensure a sustainable future for all our residents and businesses.

“We are ambitious about our future in Cheshire East and the role transport will play, but

we must also be realistic about the challenges we face. The way we travel is changing to adapt to climate change and new technologies, the age profile of the population and shifts in the global economy.

“Our travel patterns are car dependent for the majority, which means we will have to find ways to travel smarter, possibly less often and in some cases look to other modes of travel such as public transport, walking and cycling. The LTP will shape future investment in our highways and public transport network over the next 15 years, so we would welcome your comments on the proposed priorities and strategic direction for transport in Cheshire East.”

Councillor Jamie Macrae, Cabinet member with responsibility for prosperity, said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for local people to have their say and really shape, and take ownership of, local transport priorities and policies.”

To have your say on the new Local Transport Plan get a copy of the questionnaire from council customer service point offices or public libraries and send in the completed form to: Cheshire East LTP Strategy and Consultation, FREEPOST CW247, Floor 6, Strategic Highways and Transportation, Delamere House, Crewe CW1 2LL.

Alternatively fill in the questionnaire online by visiting the Council’s website at:

www.cheshireeast.gov.uk and clicking on Transport and Travel.

The deadline for filling in the questionnaire is Sunday, November 21.

Cheshire East’s new LTP will be published in April 2011.