The City of Stirling's Integrated Cycling Strategy (ICS) sits underneath the Integrated Transport Strategy (ITS) and provides more detail on how the strategic objectives of the ITS, in relation to cycling, can be achieved.

The City of Stirling adopted the Integrated Transport Strategy at its 22 September 2009 meeting after reviewing public comments, and forms the basis for subsequent strategies and implementation plans. For cycling this has translated to the following outcomes:

The City has a bicycle friendly network allowing cyclists to easily travel anywhere within the City

Travel by bicycle within the City is safe, direct and convenient with minimal impediment from traffic or pedestrians

The movement of cyclists is given priority over the movement of vehicles

Safe, secure and appropriate end of trip facilities are provided in major developments, centres and transport modes

Cyclist routes are clearly signed and easy to navigate

The City actively works to support and encourage community members in cycling for transport, through the provision of education, skills-training and associated services.

At the time the Integrated Transport Strategy was advertised, the City was already in the process of drafting the latest edition of the Bike Plan and had, as part of that process, identified some critical conflicts that required resolution before moving forward. Rather than progressing cycling on the 'business as usual' model, which was producing those conflicts, it was decided to review these conflicts and, by assessing the relative risks, determine treatment plans and alternate strategies to produce a new model for cycling implementation that could deliver the required outcomes.

One of the common shortcomings of bike plans, across government in general, was that they failed to address the difference between policy setting (by Council) and implementation (by the administration). In order to recognise this, the title and content of this document was revised to Integrated Cycling Strategy (ICS) to better align it as a subsidiary document to the City's Integrated Transport Strategy.

Since its release as a public document, following the first stage of consultation in 2011, the initial draft ICS has provided a focal point in many discussions, meetings and workshops in which the City has been involved, and has met with considerable interest and support from a number of other local governments, cycling advocacy groups and elements within the state government agencies. Recent developments in cycling across the world, together with a greater willingness to see them implemented in WA, have since enabled these concepts to be incorporated into Part Two of the strategy (new).

The Integrated Cycling Strategy, which was formally adopted by Council on 5 May 2015, will determine the strategic direction for cycling for the foreseeable future and set the framework for implementation. In future cycling should no longer be provided on a piecemeal basis rather the product of detailed route planning and the provision of complete routes. Following the initial public consultation the document has been divided into two parts, the first of which is essentially a reference document which provides the background study behind the development and sets the scheme for part two.

Part two provides the 'Way forward and 'toolkit' and explains the rationale behind an investment program for cycling based on the development of 'complete routes'. A separate 'Bike Route Development Plan' (BRDP) will identify the Primary and Secondary routes which will form the basis of the City's investment in cycling for the 10-year plan. This in turn will feed into the 5-year planning horizon which will determine the design program required to underwrite each annual budget submission to Council. This BRDP is already under development and defines the corridors within which Primary and Secondary cycling routes will be developed. Once the underlying Strategy has been adopted by Council and the BRDP finalised, it will be uploaded to the City's website as part of the more detailed implementation plan where it will remain available, alongside the ICS, for information and public comment.

As with the footpath program, the individual routes will be weighed with a priority score used to determine the order in which they should be delivered. As these route corridors are assessed and detailed designs produced consultation within the immediate community will be undertaken at concept stage to ensure that the City can properly accommodate local needs with the wider strategic goals.

The Stirling to Scarborough Bicycle Boulevard is the first major route to be developed, and the concept design is now underway.

Since the Integrated Cycling Strategy was formally adopted by Council on 5 May 2015, the City has undertaken the Local Bike Route (LBR) review, in accordance with the requirements of the WA Bicycle Network Plan.

This process identified prospective route corridors for the primary and secondary cycling routes discussed in section 7.1 of the ICS (pages 106 & 107).

A key outcome from the LBR review identified that the most significant of those primary routes, warranting early delivery, was a four kilometre long east-west route connecting two of the City's main activity centres:

The eastern focus of this route is the 'Strategic Metropolitan Centre' of Stirling, which also benefits from direct connectivity to the primary PSP route along the Mitchell Freeway and Stirling train station

The western focus of the route is the District Centre of Scarborough, which is currently the subject of a major redevelopment under the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) and through which runs the primary coastal cycling route.

In October 2015 the City applied to the Department of Transport (DoT) for two year PBN grant funding, for the design and first phase construction of the Stirling to Scarborough Bicycle Boulevard, and was awarded a grant for $345,000 in May 2016. Moorland Street is uniquely placed to be the main focus for this route.

To view the Integrated Cycling Strategy, click here:

Integrated Cycling Strategy