active, healthy, happy, inclusive places for everyone
Let us help you achieve your ambitions for healthy and inclusive active and sustainable travel.
Our vision is a world in which people enjoy travelling on foot, cycle and on public transport more often because they are safe and inviting options. We want to improve people’s health and wellbeing, and put them back in touch with the places where they live, learn, work, meet friends and enjoy family life. We are strategic and vision-oriented.
Making sustainable travel feel safer, more reliable and enjoyable is a core part of our vision for regenerating our villages, towns and cities, building thriving, resilient and accessible places for now and the future. We enjoy travelling actively and we want other people to join us and discover the benefits!
ActivePlanning and Partners are friendly, approachable and flexible. We believe in making our products accessible, logical and easy to read. We use evidence and give most emphasis to design because we believe this is more likely to resonate with people.
Working with the private sector, local authorities, parish councils and community stakeholder organisations, we provide a wide range of services including:
Design-led Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) and LCWIP reviews.
Route and place design studies including school streets, bus routes, accessible public realm, and sustainable transport infrastructure baselines for Local Plans.
Active travel and bus stop infrastructure design, and client-side design support.
Vision-led strategic transport and town planning, supporting masterplans and major planning applications with network studies, more detailed design information on proposed active travel connections (including design and access) and public transport route options.
Policy, strategy and funding bid narratives, including graphic design and presentations.
Media communications, engagement literature and workshops.
We work anywhere in the UK and Ireland in partnership with some of the UK’s leading specialist independent SMEs.
Services
Strategy
ActivePlanning offers design-first Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans.
‘Design-first’ means we identify and visit all proposed core LCWIP routes, either ‘in person’ or using desktop tools such as Google Streetview and Ordnance Survey to be sure they are deliverable, rather than putting lines on a map which become ‘policy’ regardless of whether or not schemes would be feasible.
Furthermore, we investigate a finer grain of local routes, area-based traffic calming schemes, school streets and small community links schemes that can be delivered quickly to maximise accessibility benefits to the community, enabling very local trips.
Our proposals align with LTN1/20 and Inclusive Environments but, with OpenAccessame, we can also include NRAC accredited accessibility audits.
Simple, clear link and junction numbering together with colour-coding by infrastructure type de-mystifies the presentation of networks, giving readers an at-a-glance overview of what we believe could be delivered on site.
Our design-led approach is, we believe, unique. It allows us to provide much better value for our clients, saving money on detailed route reviews - so this is where we invest the bulk of our time.
We have also discovered the public are more interested in and engaged with infrastructure than data and modelling. Scheme prioritisation is based on simple outputs from stakeholder engagement and Active Travel England’s pct.bike interface.
Design-led Local cycling and walking infrastructure plans.
Route studies - walking and cycling
ActivePlanning works with engineering partners to offer comprehensive route studies which look at (a) the general feasibility of introducing pedestrian and cycle routes on selected corridors and (b) site specific designs for key locations including junctions, typical design detailing on links, and new crossings.
We are happy to attend site visits with the client and key stakeholders to identify local issues and then, if necessary, to re-visit to take further photos and give consideration to any new route options to be taken forward. Our work is iterative.
Route study reports are designed to be used to attract funding. We prepare visually-appealing desktop published documents and can bring additional expertise to verify routes through sensitive areas (RAMSAR, SPA, SAC, SSSI).
Masterplanning
Masterplans - early stages
ActivePlanning works with master developers, urban designers, developers, planners, engineers and architects at the visioneering / brainstorming and other early masterplan stages to establish the masterplan vision, design principles, active and sustainable transport networks. We are advised by Hegsons Design Consultancy Limited.
Our sustainability-led approach has helped lead consultants deliver multi-award winning masterplans and compete in national architectural competitions.
We want to create healthy places that naturally (without saying so) promote a better quality of life, greater travel independence for children, and inclusion of people who find themselves unable to own or drive a car for many reasons - or simply choose a car-free lifestyle as a positive facet of how they want to live their lives.
Transport Assessments, travel plans, mobility management plans
Led by Hegsons, ActivePlanning prepares or contributes to transport assessments, travel plans and mobility management plans.
Design
Design is at the heart of ActivePlanning’s approach to projects.
Richard Lewis is a lifelong cyclist with a career working in transport planning departments and extensive knowledge gained from studying design guidance and schemes in London, Paris, Copenhagen and the Netherlands.
He has a strong working knowledge of cycle infrastructure design from a “user perspective” and understands the pitfalls including greater conflicts at junctions, the interaction between pedestrians and cyclists. He is capable of designing concept schemes and is extensively and effectively engaged in design discussions. As well as learning, he regularly provides detailed design advice which is taken on board by engineers.
His design knowledge has been effective in his roles as a design reviewer, helping win major funding (a total of £36.5m for two authorities) and transforming the funding landscape for others (Luton Borough Council and the Isles of Scilly).
For more technical design, Richard works alongside colleagues including Hegsons Design Consultancy Limited and one of the UK’s leading active travel highway engineers.
Projects completed
Totton Town Council LCWIP (2025)
Council of the Isles of Scilly LCWIP (2023)
Buckden Parish Council (2019) - resulting in local scheme delivery funding.
Department for Transport pilot and ‘independent’ LCWIP support programme 2020-2022 - provided support for emerging new LCWIPs.
Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby LCWIPs (2022) led by WSP.
Hart District Council Route 150 cycle route study with City Infinity (2025)
New Forest National Park Authority with City Infinity, led by Hegsons Design Consultancy Ltd: Route 120 cycle route study.
Member of design quality review panels in Harlow, Epping and West Somerset managed by Frame Projects. Influenced the provision of active travel infrastructure within various masterplan sites, including making active and sustainable travel easier and more convenient than driving. Significant influence over the design of the emerging Latton Priory Masterplan.
Design inputs to support City Infinity on cycle route studies 120 (New Forest) and 150 (Hart).
UK Atomic Energy Authority (2024). Concept design for cycleway through new entrance gateway. Internal stakeholder engagement. Ongoing technical work being undertaken by project lead Hegsons Design Consultancy Ltd.
Luton Borough Council (2023). Design support for cycle routes in Leagrave and Bedford Road. This involved coaching the framework contractor and supporting the client. Achieved restoration of over £450,000 of Active Travel Capability Funding by helping the council achieve exemplary scheme designs.
Knutsford Town Council 2023. “Dog Wood” cycling and walking path. Concept scheme design, stakeholder engagement and report. Led by Hegsons Design Consultancy Ltd.
SOG Limited (2022) Heath Park Masterplan (400 dwellings and mixed light industrial uses), strategic transport advice with emphasis on sustainable modes and local services. Led by EcoResponsive Environments - multi-award winning.
Active travel route design serving 5,000 home development on the edge of Kettering. Hanwood Park Ltd.
County Westmeath, Ireland: Ardee, Mullingar, Athlone. Central area masterplans incorporating active travel infrastructure, including concept designs. Led by Turley. Sub-contracted to Hegsons Design Consultancy Ltd.
Mobility Management Plans - Ireland. Various, led by Hegsons Design Consultancy Limited and resulting in planning approvals.
