Active Travel in Cheshire East
Active Travel Strategy
Our Active Travel Strategy (18.6MB) sets out our vision for walking, wheeling and cycling across Cheshire East.
It aims to create a borough where walking, wheeling and cycling is the easy option for short journeys, supported by a connected, safe and accessible network. The strategy sets out how we will enable and encourage more people to travel actively, helping people to travel safely, efficiently and with confidence.
The strategy is built around three key themes: Create, Culture and Collaborate. Together, these provide the framework for improving active travel infrastructure, encouraging more people to choose active modes and working with communities and partners to deliver improvements across the borough.
We have shaped the statergy using feedback received through our public consultation in 2025. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to share their views on the opportunities, challenges and priorities for active travel across Cheshire East and helped to refine the final strategy. Our consultation report (PDF, 5.7MB) summarises the feedback received and the changes made to the strategy as a result
Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans
A key part of delivering the Active Travel Strategy is our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). These identify and prioritise improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling networks, helping to create safe, accessible and high quality routes for active journeys.
Our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans' summary document (PDF, 3.4MB) provides an overview of the proposed networks and priority routes across Cheshire East.
LCWIPs have now been adopted for 11 towns across Cheshire East. They will help guide future investment by prioritising improvements based on their benefits and deliverability. The pace and scale of delivery will depend on available funding and resources.
Technical reports are available for the towns:
Following consultation in 2025, the LCWIP routes were refined using public feedback and technical evidence. Routes will be prioritised for future investment, subject to funding, with further consultation as individual schemes are developed. The consultation report (PDF, 5.7MB) summarises the feedback received and the changes made as a result.
Access Control Barrier Policy
The Access Control Barrier Policy sits as an appendix to the Active Travel Strategy (18.6MB) and sets out the council’s approach to the use of barriers on walking, wheeling and cycling routes.
The policy aims to ensure that routes are accessible and inclusive for as many people as possible, including people using mobility aids and adapted or non-standard cycles, while recognising that there may be circumstances where access controls are needed. The policy provides a consistent approach to considering existing and proposed barriers, helping to support safe and accessible active travel routes across Cheshire East.
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, Phase 1 (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. Works on phase 2 began on Monday 5 October 2026 and will continue until spring 2027.
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.
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