Hartlepool Northern Connectivity: Town Centre to Headland

Closing Date: 16th August 2024

Location: Hartlepool

Travel
This consultation is now closed. 

There is an opportunity to provide improvements for walking, wheeling, and cycling from Hartlepool Centre to The Headland. This will make these travel options more attractive to more people. We want your ideas on how we can improve journeys and bring improvements for walking, wheeling, and cycling in the area.

Hartlepool Rail Station to the north of the town centre is Tees Valley’s third busiest rail station, with over half a million passengers every year. The Headland is around two miles northeast from Hartlepool Rail Station. The Hartlepool Headland is the most southerly point of the Heritage Coastal footpath route and is a popular destination for visitors.

Tees Valley are investing to improve Hartlepool Rail Station, and the works are expected to be completed in Spring 2024. Further details on these improvements can be seen here. The improvements will:

  • Allow for more trains and faster services to and from Hartlepool.
  • Improve passenger facilities at the station.

However, there are poor walking, wheeling, and cycling links between Hartlepool Station and The Headland which limits peoples transport options.  We would like to make improvements to give people more options in how they travel.

For an enlarged version of the map, please click here.

Wider Vision for Hartlepool

There is lots of investment going on in Hartlepool town centre to regenerate the area and encourage growth. This includes £25 million received in 2021 through the Government’s Town Deal, which is funding various projects including the Waterfront Connectivity Project, Re-imagining Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, and restoring the former Wesley Chapel. Hartlepool Borough Council has also been awarded money from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to create a Production Village in the Lynn Street and Whitby Street area of the town centre. These projects will create more jobs and opportunities in the town centre, as well as attracting more visitors.

Alongside these projects is the Hartlepool’s Development Corporation which has been formed to transform Hartlepool and includes: Oakesway Business Park, Queens Meadow Business Park, retail and leisure land – including Mill House Leisure Centre and Middleton Grange Shopping Centre, with and civic buildings.

These planned improvements could encourage more people to travel in Hartlepool town centre. This means roads will get busier, and traffic could worsen. Tees Valley, in partnership with Hartlepool Borough Council, want to deliver transport improvements to support this growth and ensure quicker, better, safer, and more reliable journeys.

Current Issues

There are no dedicated, continuous walking, wheeling, or cycling paths between Hartlepool town centre and the Headland.

There is an existing shared use cycle route next to the seafront, along Marine Drive and Sea View Terrace. But this route does not continue all the way into Hartlepool town centre. In some places, cyclists need to share road space with cars, even on busy roads. This can feel unsafe for some people using the route and can discourage people from cycling in this area.

Opportunities

We want to deliver improvements to help improve bus, walking, wheeling, and cycling journeys and make these more attractive travel options.

Here are some opportunities that may help address the issues in this area:

  • Introduce a dedicated cycle route including:
    • Introduce a 4-metre-wide bidirectional cycle way at footpath level along A179, Cleveland Road and West View Road between Marine Drive and Maritime Avenue.
    • Provide a Toucan crossing over The Highlight for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
    • Introduce a 2.5-metre-wide cycleway at footpath level on The Highlight.
    • Provide zebra crossings over Middleton Road and the A1048/A179 roundabout for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
    • Provide toucan crossing of Cleveland Road near Lancaster Road North for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
    • Provide priority crossings of side roads along Cleveland Road for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
    • Provide toucan crossing over West View Road for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
    • Provide zebra crossing of Old Cemetary Road for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists.
  • Reduce general traffic speeds with traffic calming or reducing speed limits.

Other transport improvements could include:

  • Improve the layout of junctions and roads.
  • Introduce measures to give buses priority over other vehicles, such as traffic light systems that give buses priority at junctions.
Benefits

These may offer the following benefits:

  • Safer, joined up and more attractive walking, wheeling, and cycling paths including wider paths, segregation from vehicles and new foot paths, cycle paths or shared walking and cycling spaces.
  • Safer walking, wheeling, and cycling crossings.
  • Contributes to the delivery of a safe and connected walking, wheeling and cycle network across Hartlepool.
  • Quicker or more reliable bus journey times using priority measures.
  • Buses could move through junctions more efficiently and red-light waiting times could reduce.
  • Reduced congestion and queuing could result in more reliable journeys for all vehicles.
Impacts

We recognise that there may be some impacts, these could include:

  • Reduced space for other road users.
  • We may need to remove or relocate the existing on-street parking.
  • Existing grass verges may need to be removed.
  • Cars and other vehicles may have to wait slightly longer at the traffic lights or junctions.

Timeline

Stage 1 - Sharing ambitions and vision for transport improvements across Tees Valley. Summer 2023
Stage 2 - Public engagement looking at key issues and opportunities around potential transport solutions. Summer 2024
Stage 3 - Specific consultations after transport plans are further developed with public feedback taken onboard.

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