Objective 4:
Promote opportunities to encourage more active lifestyles for residents and visitors of all age groups including walking and cycling initiatives.
Rationale:
Exmouth is located at the meeting point of the Exe Estuary Trail cycle path and the Jurassic Coast walking route. It is also an established hub for water sports activities. There is great potential to make more of these assets and the connections between them to strengthen the identity of Exmouth as a place that supports active lifestyles for residents and visitors of all ages. Much of this potential lies in the opportunity to improve signage, wayfinding, and active travel provision within the public realm that links these assets.
The best form of placemaking is making the most of existing assets. Encouraging more outdoor pursuits and activities in the abundant natural environments in and around Exmouth therefore helps strengthen the place as well promoting healthy lifestyles. Potential interventions range from hubs at the start / end point of the Exe Trail and Jurassic Coast Path and at strategic locations within the town and along the seafront to help orient users and link them to the other outdoor attractions. Each hub creates an opportunity for economic activity, including cycle hire / maintenance, refreshment and other retail and information / sales for water-based activities.
In addition to hubs to support walking and cycling, active travel routes through the town centre and along the seafront should be enhanced to promote more sustainable travel and further support healthy lifestyles by offering attractive, affordable and safe alternatives to car use.
Actions
4.1
4.2
Create hubs within the town centre and the seafront to harness the opportunity to link into the wider walking and cycling networks.
Undertake surveys to identify opportunities to promote walking and cycling within the town centre and along the seafront, potentially through reallocation of highway space, building on the proposed priorities identified in the Neighbourhood Plan.
4.3 Promote use of the rail link as a park-and-ride system to reduce traffic in the town centre and seafront.
Aims:
Create hubs within the town centre and along the seafront that become the gateways to the regional walking and cycling network and water sports activities.
Prioritising walking and cycling across Exmouth town centre and the seafront to create safer, more inclusive mobility options.
Improve access to healthier choices and reduce car dependency by providing low-cost transport links to destinations.
Strategic Objective 4: Promote opportunities to encourage more active lifestyles for residents and visitors of all age groups including walking and cycling initiatives.
Figure 12: Strategic objective 4 spatial plan