Join us for a walk and talk in Clitheroe on October 19

Activate Clitheroe is a grassroots community movement campaigning for better walking, cycling and wheeling infrastructure in Clitheroe and the surrounding villages.

Clitheroe is a wonderful place to live and work, but its medieval roads are becoming clogged with traffic. The town centre is a much busier and noisier place than it was even 20 years ago and many of the feeder roads are becoming very congested.

The vast majority of journeys by car in Clitheroe are likely to be under three miles. This reflects national traffic trends. Many of those journeys – the school run, a shopping trip or a short commute to work could potentially be made by bike, e-bike, mobility scooter or on foot.

We want to work with the county council, borough council, community groups, schools and businesses to encourage people to leave their cars on their driveways for some of their shorter journeys and explore alternative modes of active travel.

We believe this has the potential to make Clitheroe – and the surrounding villages a healthier, happier and more prosperous place.

The Government is poised to invest billions of pounds in making it easier and safer for people to walk, cycle or wheel. Much of this investment will be channelled through local Government and we want Clitheroe to be in pole position to secure these funds by developing a clear plan for a transition to more active travel.

We have already spoken to Lancashire County Council’s active travel lead and scrutinised the outline plans for more active travel in Clitheroe and the wider Ribble Valley. We now want to go a step further and start developing a more detailed blueprint for safer walking and cycling routes and begin encouraging local residents to engage with these conversations.

This will be a collaborative process, led by the community and designed to meet its needs. This process will not be underpinned by an anti-car agenda – we are simply asking people to consider using their cars less for shorter journeys.

We don’t want to be prescriptive, but some of our initial ideas include:

Our priorities

o Making it easier and safer for schoolchildren to walk or cycle to school

o Encouraging shoppers to walk or cycle into the town centre and market and make more local shopping trips

o Encouraging local employers to offer employees incentives for walking or cycling to their workplaces

o Exploring options for partial pedestrianisation of the town centre

o Creating more visitor car parking spaces on the edge of the town centre

o Hosting a regular ‘cycle Sunday’ when local families and visitors are encouraged to walk or cycle into town

o Organising more entertainment and events in the town centre to attract locals and visitors alike – these events will prioritise local traders and hospitality venues as opposed to bringing in traders from outside the area

Would you like to find out more?

We’re hosting a ‘walk and talk’ in Clitheroe on Saturday, October 19 and we’d be delighted if you could join us. Starting from Clitheroe Station at Midday, we will be exploring then lesser-known footpaths around town. Feel free to join us for all or part of the walk.