FOI Follow-Up: Wirral Has the Data — Let’s Make It Public

Earlier this year, I published my white paper, The Future of Cycling on Wirral, followed by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to understand how the Council tracks its cycling investments. That first response made headlines:

FOI BOMBSHELL: Wirral Council Confirms It Has No Idea What It Spends on Cycling

We discovered there was:

• No dedicated maintenance budget

• No itemised spending on cycle schemes

• No clear usage reporting

• No localised demand models for the Core Active Travel Network (CATN)

At the end of that piece, we said we’d follow up.

This is that follow-up.

This Time We Focused on Monitoring

Our new FOI request asked Wirral Council about its network of automated sensors — the kind that count cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles. We wanted to know:

1. Where they’re installed

2. What data is being captured

3. Whether this data is being used to evaluate schemes or inform funding applications

The Council responded in detail and confirmed several important points.

What the FOI Confirmed

• There are at least 33 smart sensors installed across the borough since 2020

• These sensors track pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles

• Data is accessed via a Vivacity dashboard and internal Power BI reports

• The data has been used in funding applications and reported to Active Travel England

This confirms that the infrastructure for meaningful monitoring is in place — which is excellent news.

However, the actual usage figures — the number of cyclists using each route, month by month — were not included in the FOI response.

The Sensor Network

Here is the list of locations as provided in the response:

This is a significant investment in data collection — and it has real potential to inform and improve infrastructure planning.

Location	Owner	Date Installed
Wallasey Bridge Rd	LJMU	Jan 2020
Fender Lane	Merseytravel	May 2020
Fender Lane	Merseytravel	Nov 2022
New Chester Rd	Merseytravel	Apr 2020
New Chester Rd	Merseytravel	Jun 2021
Argyle St (x6)	Wirral	May 2023
Birkenhead Rd	Merseytravel	Jun 2021
New Chester Rd (x3)	Wirral	May 2023
Conway St	Merseytravel	Jul 2021
Market St	Merseytravel	Jul 2021
Gorsey Lane	Merseytravel	Jul 2021
Claughton Rd (x2)	Wirral	May 2023
Laird St	Wirral	May 2023
Price St	Wirral	May 2023
Exmouth St	Wirral	May 2023
St Pauls Rd	Wirral	May 2023
Arrowe Park Rd	Wirral	Removed May 2024
Meols Parade	Merseytravel	May 2024
New Chester Rd near Pool Ln	Merseytravel	Feb 2024
Pasture Rd near Tarran Way North	Merseytravel	Feb 2024
Cross Ln	Merseytravel	Apr 2024
New Chester Rd NW of Caldbeck Rd	Merseytravel	Jan 2024
Egremont Promenade	Merseytravel	Jan 2024
Bromborough Rd near Quarry Rd East	Merseytravel	Jan 2024
Beaufort Rd near Ilchester Rd	Merseytravel	May 2024
Reeds Ln near Wirral Circular	Merseytravel	May 2024
Wirral Circular near Scoresby Rd	Merseytravel	May 2024

Why We're Asking for More

The FOI response confirmed the Council does access the data and uses it internally. What we’re asking is simple:

Could this data also be shared with the public?

Releasing anonymised usage figures for cycle routes would:

• Increase trust in infrastructure planning

• Allow residents to understand which routes are working well

• Demonstrate impact to funding bodies and the wider community

• Help improve scheme design over time

It’s an opportunity for the Council to lead by example in data transparency.

A Constructive Suggestion

We propose that Wirral Council:

1. Publish monthly sensor data (by route and mode) on its website

2. Share key summaries from the Vivacity and Power BI dashboards

3. Include usage evaluations in CATN route reporting

This would support the Council’s stated goals around transparency, climate action, and community engagement — and show real leadership in transport planning.

What You Can Do

🧭 Find your councillor👉 Click here

📢 Ask them to support publishing the data:

“I’d love to see more openness about how our cycle network is being used. Can the Council share monthly figures from the sensor network? #WirralCycling #OpenTheData”

Updated 4 June 2025 to expand the table of sensors to include the full list from FOI 1019557, with all Merseytravel and Wirral Council-owned installations correctly identified.