New active travel route opens as part of pioneering By Ours Cowley Hill project

Article date: 17 September 2024

A result of the By Ours Cowley Hill Liveable Neighbourhood project, the 210m long and 3.5m wide path runs across Bishop Road Playing Fields, connecting Bishop Road to Elderflower Road - just a stone's throw away from the school - with more than a dozen trees planted along the route to enhance biodiversity net gain, and a number of street lighting columns installed for safety.

The new and improved infrastructure forms just one part of the pioneering By Ours Cowley Hill scheme - a community-led project to create safer, healthier, and more attractive streets in St Helens borough - with a signalised pedestrian crossing on Duke Street; a number of raised traffic-calming tables at various road junctions in the Cowley Hill area; a series of footway accessibility improvements; and a new green space 'pocket park' (nearing completion) on Cooper Street which will also contain more than a dozen new trees.

Funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) and Active Travel England, By Ours Cowley Hill came to fruition back in 2020 after St Helens Borough Council was selected by the LCRCA as one of the first local authority areas in Merseyside to take part in the Freshfield Foundation-funded initiative in partnership with charity, Sustrans. Since then, a number of public consultation exercises have been held which resulted in residents, schools and businesses putting forward ideas on what they would like to see in the streets and green spaces in a one square mile radius of Cowley Hill - an area linked to developments; several schools and within walking distance of St Helens town centre.

A launch event to celebrate the completion of the new path - which will help reduce traffic congestion around the school at peak times - was held this week for pupils to try out with their bikes, before attending a special assembly on the council's net zero aspirations. Among those to attend the event included representatives from Rivington Primary School; St Helens Borough Council; Sustrans and contractor, George Cox and Sons Ltd, who, as part of a social value commitment, removed graffiti off Unison Sports and Social Club which backs onto the playing field and provided a series of improvements to St Helens Football Club car park, which temporarily hosted the contractors site compound.

Councillor Seve Gomez Aspron MBE, Deputy Leader of St Helens Borough Council and Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, who attended the event alongside the Mayor of St Helens Borough, Jeanette Banks, and Windle ward councillor Lynn Clarke, said:

"This new shared use footway and cycleway facility is a great example of how the council is providing the infrastructure to enable active travel - allowing pupils nearby Rivington Primary School to safely walk, cycle, or scoot to and from school in a car free environment.

"One of the most satisfying parts of the By Ours scheme is that it was developed by residents in the Cowley Hill area working with Sustrans, who contributed ideas on the improvements they wanted to see and it's great to hear that it's received such positive feedback.

"Being part of this initiative has proven to be very useful for us to gain a better understanding of what residents and businesses think of the areas where they live, visit, work or go to school - and I'd like to thank Sustrans and all our funding partners at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Active Travel England for making this possible."

Clare Powell, headteacher of Rivington Primary School, said: "Encouraging children to be more physical at any part of the day is great and especially helping ease the congestion around school because obviously that's a big problem for many primary schools but especially where ours is located - there's quite a bottleneck so I'm really happy that there's been that investment in the children and the younger generation around school."

Ali Dore, engagement manager at Sustrans said: "We are really excited to see how local people have shaped the transformational changes in Cowley Hill. Improving safety on the streets, particularly for children travelling to school, was a key recommendation by the local community.  The new active travel route and other street design changes will help people to move around more safely and make the neighbourhood a more attractive place for everyone."

For more information on the By Ours Cowley Hill Liveable Neighbourhood project, visit: www.sthelens.gov.uk/article/7994/By-Ours-project