Pedestrian Access and Mobility Plan (PAMP)

Overview

Council has a Pedestrian Access and Mobility Plan, also known as a 'PAMP'. The PAMP provides the strategy, ranking methodology, and mapping to support the expansion of paths, pedestrian crossings and bicycle infrastructure across the city.

The purpose of the plan is to:

  • identify priorities for pedestrians and cyclists
  • continuously improve the network of footpaths, shared user paths, and pedestrian crossings across the city
  • assist Council in prioritising works
  • demonstrate an integrated approach to 'active transport' planning across the city
  • assist Council and the community to obtain grant funding for priority improvements

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PAMP strategies and score criteria

The PAMP was originally adopted in 2002 (Nowra Bomaderry, Milton Ulladulla, and Bay and Basin areas) and 2005 (all other suburb and village areas to complete the strategy for the city).

The community were originally invited to nominate projects for consideration, and to also comment on criteria which would then allow all projects to be ranked city wide. Projects were then mapped and ranked against the adopted criteria, and the PAMP documents were placed on exhibition before adoption.

Whilst the maps and ranking spreadsheets are still kept as current as possible, it is proposed to update the strategic documents in the 2023/24 financial year.

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Bike Plan

Similar to the PAMP, Council also has a Bike Plan which was adopted in 2013. The Bike Plan mapping and projects are integrated with the PAMP. Although the PAMP includes existing and propose cycling infrastructure, cycling isn’t the sole focus of the PAMP which addresses all forms of active transport.

Accordingly, the Bike Plan was prepared to highlight the strategy for cyclists and cyclist safety specifically. The Bike Plan also has separate criteria to rank cycling initiatives.

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Bike Spot 2023

Australia's largest ever crowd-sourcing bike safety project – BikeSpot 2023 – was launched by the Amy Gillett Foundation on Friday 20 October at Parliament House in Canberra – and we thought we’d add it here for you!

The Bikespot 2023 website is part of the Safe Cycling program funded by the Australian Government. There was previously a 2020 iteration which was restricted to Victoria, but this one is now nationwide.

People can simply launch the interactive map and add their own spots, calling out locations that aren’t safe to cycle. Wherever you are in Australia, you can add your spot to the BikeSpot map.

A quote from the Amy Gillett Foundation:

“Research has shown that a key barrier to getting more people on bikes is how unsafe they feel when riding, particularly around cars.

Monash University has found more than three-quarters of people are interested in riding a bike, but only when separated from cars, such as on off-road paths or protected bike lanes.

The aim of the project is to develop insights into perceived safe and unsafe cycling locations and contribute to prioritising future cycling infrastructure improvements.

Data collected from the project will be de-identified and made publicly available.”

Here at Council we receive feedback from the community in a large number of ways, and we’ll also be keeping a close eye on BikeSpot 2023 to monitor the feedback people are leaving about the Shoalhaven.

We encourage people to add their spots in the Shoalhaven as this will be useful information for us as we continue to evolve the PAMP and Bike Plan.

For more information or to add spots to the map, go to the BikeSpot website:

BikeSpot 2023 | Make Your Mark | Let’s Make Cycling Safe

Round the Bay

A further refinement of the PAMP and with a focus on an Implementation Plan, Council adopted its 'Round the Bay' Walks Implementation Plan in 2012.

The Round the Bay projects are also integrated with the PAMP, and similar to the Bike Plan was prepared to refine the route and highlight the strategy for Round the Bay specifically. The Round the Bay projects also incorporate shared paths to facilitate cycling access wherever practical and feasible to do so.

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Interactive map

An interactive map is now available showing where existing and proposed paths, crossings, and bicycle facilities currently are (and are proposed to be) located, making it easier for residents and visitors to visualise the plan. 

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Proposed review of the PAMP/Bike Plan

Whilst the PAMP and Bike Plan maps and project ranking spreadsheets are kept as current as possible, following grant funding approval in December 2023, it is now proposed to complete the update of the plans and prepare new strategy documents in 2024.

Staff had already commenced a citywide review of the maps and ranking spreadsheets, as a lead-in to the citywide review of the PAMP and Bike Plan. This important background work will now enable the tight grant funding deadlines to be met, and allow the public exhibition of updated plans and associated strategies, later in 2024 (dates still to be determined – currently aiming for mid-year).

Ahead of broader public consultation proposed for later in 2024, in April 2023 Council distributed a set of preliminary map amendments and score criteria to all 24 adopted Community Consultative bodies, all 8 Chambers of Commerce, and other key Active Transport contacts within the Shoalhaven.

The groups were invited to undertake a preliminary review and provide preliminary feedback as a check ahead of the broader PAMP process. This was to ensure that projects of importance to those key consultative groups have been addressed as part of the current preliminary plan amendments.

With the grant funding approved, and following a competitive quotation process, Council has just engaged a consultant (February 2024) to undertake the work to update the PAMP-Bike Plans, which will commence in March 2024. It is currently programmed to have draft strategies prepared for consideration by Council in June, or earlier if possible.

It is envisaged that Council will endorse the draft plans (initially to be placed on public exhibition), before considering submissions, making any final amendments, and subsequently approving the final documents, later in 2024.

National cycling participation survey

The National Cycling Participation Survey (NCPS) is a standardised survey that has been repeated biennially since 2011. The NCPS provides data on cycling participation at a national level and allows for estimates of participation for each state and territory, and the capital cities and non-capital areas within each state and territory.

In 2020 Shoalhaven City Council had the opportunity to participate in the NCPS including an expanded sample size to capture a broad cross section of the community and ensure representation from a broad range of suburbs and village areas across the City.

Local governments usually commission the survey in order to support their efforts to encourage bicycle riding within their communities. The primary objective of the survey is to measure participation rather than travel.

In addition to all other public feedback that Council receives and considers in relation to the PAMP/Bike Plan update process, the 2020 NCPS has been used as a lead-in to a broader review of the PAMP and Bike Plans, and has provided some very useful initial feedback to inform the current review of the PAMP/Bike Plan projects.

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