Active Travel in Cheshire East

Active Travel consultation – thank you for your feedback

We are in the process of developing a new Active Travel Strategy to help refine and prioritise what matters most to our communities across Cheshire East.

We ran a public consultation in 2025 and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to share their views.

• Active Travel consultation brochure

We are in the process of reviewing all feedback received and will publish a consultation report summarising the key themes and responses in due course. Based on this feedback, we are revising the Active Travel Strategy and refining the proposed Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) routes. Once these updates are complete, the final Strategy and LCWIP will be submitted to highways and transport committee for adoption this summer.

Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans

We adopted Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for Crewe, Congleton, Macclesfield and Wilmslow in 2021: 

• Crewe LCWIP
• Congleton, Macclesfield and Wilmslow LCWIP

We have been progressing with development and delivery of infrastructure identified in these plans.

Following consultation in 2025, we are in the process of refining the draft LCWIPs for the following towns:

• Alsager
• Handforth
• Knutsford
• Middlewich
• Nantwich
• Poynton
• Sandbach

We are aiming to formally adopt these plans in summer 2026.

Current Cycling Strategy 2017

The cycling strategy (PDF, 2MB) sets out our vision for a network of high-quality strategic cycle routes, which connect local communities and key growth areas while also giving access to leisure opportunities and the natural environment of Cheshire East. The executive summary (PDF, 5MB) sets out the headlines of the cycling strategy.

A key action of the Cycling Strategy is the implementation of a cycle proofing toolkit (PDF, 231KB) to ensure that new development schemes take cycling into consideration as part of the design and planning process. We have trained officers to ensure this happens.

Since our Cycling Strategy was adopted, Government policy has evolved to consider all modes of active travel and so now is the time to develop a new Active Travel Strategy (see above).

Active Travel member champion

Our Active Travel member champion, Councillor Ben Wye, works to promote walking, cycling and wheeling for all across the borough. Cllr Wye also works with committee members and senior officers to help focus council policies to put active travel at the heart of the planning and design of the borough’s streets, communities and green spaces.

Our ambition is a ‘step change’ in the take up of active travel by residents of all ages across Cheshire East – with a focus on encouraging more people to walk, cycle and wheel safely more often with confidence for everyday journeys and leisure, especially into and out of town and village centres.

Incorporating walking, wheeling as well as cycling into one member champion role, enables thinking around sustainability, connectivity and accessibility – especially for wheelchair users, pushchairs and mobility scooters.

This is a list of all our member champions including all those connected with transport. 

Projects

Cheshire East Council works with external funding partners to deliver active travel projects around the borough. Here are a few examples of recent work:

A538 Altrincham Road segregated shared path

A section of the A538 Altrincham Road segregated shared path near the Waters employment site in Wilmslow was delivered in 2022, plugging a known gap in the high-quality strategic link towards Manchester Airport. This was funded through the council’s Local Transport Plan annual allocation for active travel. Following a successful bid for UK Shared Prosperity Funding to improve the pedestrian and cycle facilities at the Waters roundabout, a new parallel crossing was installed in 2024. 

Black Lane and Hurdsfield Road

The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly Sustrans) provided £600,000 towards improvements for cyclists and pedestrians on a section of the Middlewood Way on Black Lane and Hurdsfield Road in Macclesfield. An additional £100,000 funding was provided by theGovernment's UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Footpaths on Black Lane and Hurdsfield Road were widened to provide a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists. New safe crossing points were added. The scheme also included upgrades to a toucan crossing and a signalled junction on Hurdsfield Road and improved street lighting. Tactile surface tiling was laid to emphasise walking and cycling priority. As well as new signage, there is new guard rail alongside the River Bollin. The installation of a new parallel crossing for pedestrians and cyclists at the exit from the Tesco store in March 2024 completed the scheme.

Manchester Road

The Manchester Road Active Travel scheme is part of the plans to improve accessibility and provide an enhanced safe cycle and walking route, connecting Wilmslow and Handforth. 

Active Travel England awarded £1.3m in 2023 to deliver the northern section (north of the railway bridge). This work has now been completed. A further £673,000 was awarded in March 2024 to help deliver the middle section, which is expected to start in summer 2026.

For more information, see Manchester Road Handforth to Wilmslow Active Travel scheme.

Ayrshire Way

A new toucan crossing and improved junction lay-out was completed on Park Lane, close to Congleton railway station, in Spring 2025. The bus stop and lay-by have also been improved to enable the safe use of the crossing, while the junction at Ayrshire Way has been updated to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Prior to the construction of this scheme, there was no direct and safe crossing point on Park Lane. This gap in provision was identified as a priority route to the town centre for pedestrians and cyclists in Congleton’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan in 2021.

Previous improvements had been made along the wider route to the town centre including signage, dropped kerbs and access controls. The new crossing completes this section of the route.

This was funded in part through the UK shared Prosperity Fund and from the Council's Local Transport Plan annual allocation for active travel.