A proposed 1.8km walking, wheeling and cycling route between Culcheth and Birchwood is being given an environmental reality check before planners decide whether a full assessment is needed.
Warrington Borough Council is seeking an environmental impact assessment screening opinion for the route, which forms part of a wider £10million active travel programme funded through levelling up money. The ambition is welcome: linking Culcheth with Birchwood Technology Park and destinations south of the M62 could make sustainable travel a realistic option rather than an endurance test involving traffic, weather and questionable road layouts.
The proposed trail would run from New Hall Lane in Culcheth to a point around 550 metres north of the Birchwood Way roundabout at junction 11 of the M62. It would also connect with paths being delivered alongside the M62 junction 11 motorway service station, as well as National Highways improvements linking the northern and southern sides of the junction.
In theory, the combined schemes could create a continuous active travel corridor between Culcheth and Birchwood, improving access to employment, services and local amenities. That is the positive case, and it is a strong one. Better links to Birchwood Technology Park could benefit workers, residents and anyone who would rather not use the car for every journey.
The less tidy bit is the landscape. The route would pass over existing bare-ground footpaths, arable land, scrub and woodland, with nearby trees, waterbodies, ditches, industrial land and other rural features. Most of the site lies within the green belt, so this is not simply a matter of laying down tarmac and congratulating everyone on discovering bicycles.
Documents submitted to the council acknowledge that the scheme could cause some environmental effects. However, they state that those effects are unlikely to be significant and can be reduced through the design of the route and best-practice construction methods, which would be set out as part of any planning application.
The council therefore considers that the proposal is unlikely to create significant environmental effects and would not constitute development requiring a full environmental impact assessment. That conclusion still needs to be tested properly. A screening opinion is not a planning application, but it helps establish whether a full assessment will be required before one is submitted.
Warrington Borough Council will make its decision in due course. The route could be a genuinely useful piece of infrastructure for Culcheth and Birchwood, provided the environmental safeguards are treated as essential design work rather than decorative paperwork.