Leicester gives public say in creating safer city streets

Coronavirus: Widen My Path website lets people put ideas forward

The Widen My Path website

The Widen My Path website

The public can now nominate streets in Leicester that would benefit from more space for safe travelling and shopping as work continues to address challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

Leicester City Council will use the Widen My Path website to help identify where changes are being requested to help make streets safer by creating more space for physical distancing.

The website allows anyone to nominate a location where more space or improvements for walking or cycling are needed. People can also how their support for an existing suggestion by voting for it.

An online map shows the location of all suggested schemes, with the most popular ideas given the most prominence.

The ideas submitted will help the city council prioritise where further improvements are needed. The council said some suggestions may be responded to immediately with a rapid ‘pop-up’ scheme while others will be considered as part of the city council’s longer-term plans to improve routes for pedestrians and cyclists.

A range of ‘pop-up’ schemes are already being carried out across the city in response to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus lockdown, in terms of reduced use of public transport, an increase in cycling and walking, and the need to provide safe, open spaces for people to use in line with Government regulations on social distancing.

So far, the city council has introduced at least a mile of new cycling and walking pop-up paths per week since the city’s transport recovery plan was launched last month.

Leicester deputy city mayor for environment and transportation Cllr Adam Clarke said: “The challenges presented by coronavirus mean we have got to think creatively about how we can help people move around in the city more sustainably, in a way that supports their health, the recovering economy and helps us address our environmental priorities.

“We’ve moved quickly to introduce pop-up schemes on main routes but as we look to how we can roll out these change and improvements across the city, I am encouraging feedback from the public on what streets they think need more space for safe travel and social distancing.

“Our recovery from the coronavirus lockdown gives us an unprecedented chance to help people to make transport choices for the better. The Widen My Path website is one way that people can get involved in this.”

Leicester’s COVID-19 Transport Recovery Plan, which was published earlier this month, sets out the goals for helping the city’s economy recover following the lockdown, while also meeting the city’s environmental goals of improving air quality and encouraging more sustainable travel choices.

The plan is available here