Winchester Movement Strategy

Reduce city centre traffic, support healthier lifestyle choices and invest in infrastructure to support sustainable growth

Last update: May 2026

Scheme overview

The Winchester Movement Strategy (WMS) was adopted by Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council in spring 2019, following an extensive process of engagement and public consultation in 2018.

Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council want to remove constraints to travel and transport around Winchester to enable growth and make the city a healthier and more accessible place to live, work and visit. We need a widely supported strategy, based on strong evidence, which clearly demonstrates realistic, safe and affordable priorities. This will help us to identify initiatives to improve movement across the city of Winchester and put us in the best position to prepare strong business cases to bid for future funding.

It identifies these three priorities:

  • reduce city centre traffic
  • support healthier lifestyle choices
  • invest in infrastructure to support sustainable growth.

Following adoption, the two councils have been undertaking feasibility work, through which a set of ten proposed "next steps" schemes have been identified. This work also included the preparation of a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for the city. This has involved engagement with businesses and with cycling and walking stakeholders.

A feedback survey carried out in 2018 sought to understand people's views on the then emerging Winchester Movement Strategy and provided an opportunity for suggestions on alternative approaches. The 2018 survey results indicated that the Movement Strategy should aim to:

  • ensure a more integrated approach to transport/ land-use planning
  • increase park and ride capacity
  • introduce measures to help manage traffic demand
  • implement bus priority measures on key routes into the City Centre
  • reallocate road space by widening the pavements to encourage walking and cycling
  • enhance the quality of streets and the public space in the City Centre
  • improve management of deliveries to the City Centre.

Since 2018, we have been investigating the options and feasibility of delivering these potential improvements and identifying how much each would cost to deliver.

Summary reports of the feasibility work can be found here:

The Coronavirus pandemic accelerated changes to the way people work and shop, including growth in online shopping. Since the pandemic, a high proportion of office workers based in the city are working in a "hybrid" way, working from home 2-3 days a week and in the office 2-3 days a week and conducting more meetings virtually. These changes have altered everyday journey patterns within and around Winchester, with less business travel undertaken and fewer commuting trips particularly on Mondays and Fridays.

What has been delivered since 2018 and what improvements are happening?

Completed schemes:

  • Great Minster St/The Square closed to through traffic
  • new pedestrian and cycle route to Winchester Sports and Leisure Park at Bar End
  • additional 287 Park & Ride space "Barfield 2" site completed on Barfield Close (just north of Barfield P&R site)
  • new puffin crossing on Andover Road to improve access to Harestock from Kings Barton
  • new pedestrian steps from Winchester railway station west side car park to the north side of Stockbridge Road providing a more direct pedestrian link to Peter Symonds College
  • covered cycle parking area in Middle Brook Street car park and extra cycle parking in other city centre locations
  • new zebra crossing on Wales Street
  • walking and cycling improvements on Romsey Road near Battery Hill
  • Jewry Street to improve provision for pedestrians and cycles
  • Hyde Church Lane modal filter
  • Tower Street public realm
  • missing link surfacing between Kings Barton and Abbots Barton
  • permission for cycling on Middle Brook Street
  • Chilbolton to Teg Down footpath improvements.

Please see visuals from a selection of the completed schemes in Winchester.

Schemes underway or committed to be delivered:

Schemes proposals that have been developed that require external funding to enable them to be progressed and delivered:

The City of Winchester Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan

The Winchester Movement Strategy identified the need for an LCWIP for Winchester. In 2019, Atkins was commissioned to produce a draft LCWIP Feasibility Study for Winchester City (which focuses on the built-up urban area of Winchester). 
Information about the Feasibility Study is set out in the following reports:

After this Feasibility Study was published, the Cycle Infrastructure Design LTN1/20 (Department of Transport) was published and many of the potential options were not compliant with this guidance.

The Winchester LCWIP has been produced as one document but in two parts.  Part one is the Winchester District Focus document of the LCWIP and part two is the City Focus Document.  This is due to the geography of Winchester with the district of Winchester being predominantly rural and the city of Winchester being mainly urban. The routes in the District Focus document are generally longer and have stretches that pass through rural locations, market towns and villages whereas the City Focus document covers a more densely built up and populated area.  These two documents together form the LCWIP covering Winchester.  

The Winchester City focus LCWIP report was formally approved in September 2025, and the District Focus document was formally approved in December 2024. 

North Winchester Data Monitoring

The Kings Barton residential development is expected to develop 2000 new homes, a district centre, primary school, and 200-space park and ride site, with vehicle access being re-routed from Andover Road through the development. Further details can be found in the Hampshire County Council Decision Day Report on the Andover Road Strategy.

The North Winchester Data Monitoring Report presents baseline traffic data collected on roads surrounding Andover Road. Traffic surveys will be repeated following the diversion of Andover Road to monitor any impacts on surrounding roads.

Funding Arrangements
Funding for the transport capital delivery schemes is separate from the County Council’s revenue budget and savings proposals. In the majority of cases funding comes from external grants and / or Section 106 contribution from developers. This funding usually has conditions that strictly control on how, where and when it can be spent.
Roadworks and Travel Advice
Visit Causeway One.Network which is where the planned works are published and is an independent platform that allows real-time monitoring of all the UK’s roadworks and diversions.

My Journey - travel information and travel advice choices in Hampshire.
Contact us
Address
Universal Services
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
SO23 8UD