Transport

Local transport networks can play an important role in helping to shape public health.

Good transport accessibility to local places can mean better access to employment opportunities, education and essential services like healthcare and shops. (Source: NatCen, 2019) For some people a lack of accessible healthcare can have an impact on their ability to manage health problems. More generally, a literature review commissioned by the Department for Transport found that “transport allows access to non-healthcare activities that are beneficial for physical and mental health and for social connection and wellbeing”. (Source: PMC, 2024)

Additionally, a transport network which makes it easier to travel by active modes, such as walking and cycling, can also help to build physical activity into daily routines, with significant physical and mental health benefits. (Source: BMJ Public Health, 2024)

Conversely, there are externalities associated with transport that can negatively impact on health:

• . This is more heavily emphasised in rural communities. (Source: UK Parliament, 2025)
• Poor air quality and pollution from transport contributes to poor health outcomes, such as increased risk of respiratory conditions like asthma. (Source: Royal College of Physicians, 2025)
• Road danger contributes to deaths and serious injuries. (Source: UK, 2025)
• Community severance, where roads, railways, and even street furniture can act as a barrier for local people when travelling. Transport for the North says, “the impacts associated with community severance are well researched and include a reduction in active travel, poorer physical and mental health outcomes, reduced wellbeing, increased exposure to harmful pollutants and poorer air quality, and social isolation and exclusion”.

There are a range of key national and local policies to support improved transport accessibility that are either currently followed or in development.

• A new Integrated National Transport Strategy which is currently being developed following a consultation period in early 2025
• Forthcoming Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority policies on transport and spatial planning, currently in development.
• Lincolnshire Local Transport Plan 5
• Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland’s Strategic Infrastructure Delivery Framework
• UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy
• The Inclusive Transport Strategy
• Midlands Connect Business Plan 2025/26;
• Gear change: a bold vision for cycling and walking
• Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership Road Safety Strategy 2015-2025

Local Plans, including Central Lincolnshire Local Plan 2012-2036, East Lindsey Local Plan Core Strategy Adopted 2018, South East Lincolnshire Local Plan 2011-2036, The South Kesteven Local Plan | South Kesteven District Council

Each year the County Council’s Transport and Growth team produces an Annual Monitoring Report which outlines trends across a variety of transport related subjects.

Growth of traffic

Traffic levels in Lincolnshire have grown consistently and considerably over the past 30 years. The Department for Transport expects traffic levels to increase in future as the demand for movement of people and goods grows with the population.

Between 1993 and 2024, vehicle kilometres travelled in Lincolnshire rose by 57.3%. This is substantially greater than that for England (30% growth) and the East Midlands (46.8% growth) over the same period. Traffic levels grew steadily until 2007 then plateaued until 2012, reflecting economic conditions at that time. There was a similar trend nationally and regionally.

Since 2012, growth in vehicle kilometres travelled in Lincolnshire has resumed with an increase of some 22.2% between 2012 and 2019. This is slightly above the corresponding national figure of 17%. Lockdown measures, introduced during 2020, saw significant decreases in travel, with traffic levels dropping to levels last seen in 2002. Following the end of lockdown measures growth in traffic has returned to previous levels, indeed in 2024 growth has increased to its highest level recorded.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Walking and cycling

The proportion of people cycling at least once a week in Lincolnshire is equivalent to the rest of England, but slightly higher than levels in the East Midlands. There is considerable variation at district council level.

According to the latest published figures, from 2023 (published August 2024), Boston Borough Council was the district with the highest levels of cycling, with 14.8% of residents cycling once per week. This compares with South Holland having the lowest level, with 8.9% of residents cycling once per week.

The proportion of people making a walking trip in Lincolnshire is generally equivalent to regional and national levels. ‘Journey purpose’ percentages have remained fairly static over the last four years, with a 67.5% proportion of adults who walk for any purpose at least once per week in 2023. These figures vary within Lincolnshire District Authorities, with South Kesteven the highest at 82.4%, and Boston the lowest at 59.5%.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Bus patronage

Bus patronage in Lincolnshire is on an upward trend after recovering from a fall during the Covid-19 pandemic. Concessionary fare journeys, where travellers receive a discount or subsidy on their fare, continue to represent a significant proportion of bus journeys made.

Following a period of strong growth, between 2010/11 and 2019/20 there was a gradual decline in annual bus passenger journeys in Lincolnshire from 16.9m to approximately 12m. The fall was then compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, with only 4.3m journeys completed in Lincolnshire in 2020/21. However, since then journeys have been increasing – as of 2024, Lincolnshire bus passenger journeys had risen to 13.3m, surpassing pre-Covid levels.

Concessionary fare journeys represent approximately 35.8% of all bus journeys in the county. Following lockdown, figures for concessionary travel have recovered slightly with 2.9m journeys completed in 2022/23.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Rail passenger usage

The trend in the number of people using Lincolnshire’s rail stations over recent years has been generally upwards.

Passenger rail usage grew by 36.3% between 2004/05 and 2018/19 which was followed by a reduction in 2019/20. This was due to travel policies during the COVID-19 outbreak, where use of public transport was massively reduced. However, rail passenger journeys in Lincolnshire have substantially recovered, recently returning to pre-covid levels.

However, the picture varies widely at individual stations. The most popular stations in Lincolnshire are Lincoln and Grantham, accounting for 3.2m passenger exits and entries. After that the most popular station is Skegness, accounting for 358,304 passengers in 2023/24, with heavy seasonal traffic around holiday travel.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Annual statistics on the number of vehicles licensed

Since 2010 there has been strong growth in the number of vehicles licensed in the county.

At the end of 2001 there were 375,000 vehicles licenced to postcodes in Lincolnshire. That had grown to 544,000 by March 2025, an increase of 45%.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Mode of travel to work

The proportion of people travelling to work by car (either as driver or passenger) in Lincolnshire has risen from 54% in 1981 to 62.3% in 2021. This is slightly lower than the figure for the East Midlands

(58.2%) and substantially above the figure for England (48.4%). Lincoln City shows the lowest percentage of car use at 62.3% compared with the county average of 72.4%.

At the same time, the percentage of people walking to work has fallen from 16.7% in 1981 to 9.1% in 2021 and those cycling have fallen from 9.6% to 2.7% over the same time period. The City of Lincoln had the highest proportion of people walking to work in 2021 (14.7%), and North Kesteven had the lowest at 6.1%. The number of people using the bus to get to work across the county declined steadily from 6.6% in 1981 to 1.3% in 2021.

One area that has seen substantial change is the amount of people working from home. In 1981 only 5.5% of people declared that they worked from home, but his had risen to 22.3% in 2021.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Car ownership

The proportion of households in Lincolnshire without access to a car fell steadily from 31.1% in 1981 to 16.4% in 2021.

The proportion of one car households fell from 51.9% to 42.3% as the proportion of households in the county with two cars almost doubled from 14.3% to 30%, and households with three or more cars rose from 2.7% to 11.2%.

In 2021, the proportion of households in Lincolnshire without access to a car (16.4%) was lower than the East Midlands (19.1%) and England (24%). In 2021 the City of Lincoln had the highest proportion of households without access to a car at 28.4%.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Road safety

In 2003, fatalities on Lincolnshire’s roads peaked at 104, with a further 526 people seriously injured. Since then, there has been a downward trend in the number of fatalities in the county. In 2024 there were 53 deaths with 379 people seriously injured.

Regionally, Lincolnshire has a higher rate of fatal or serious collisions per billion motor vehicle miles than neighbouring authorities, such as Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. In 2023, there were 121 fatal or serious collisions per billion motor vehicle miles in Lincolnshire, compared to 78 in Derbyshire, 74 in Nottinghamshire and 48 in Leicestershire.

Accordingly, more people are killed or seriously injured in Lincolnshire than its neighbours. In 2023 there were 139 people killed or seriously injured in Lincolnshire per billion motor vehicle miles, compared to 90 in Derbyshire, 82 in Nottinghamshire and 55 in Leicestershire.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Electric vehicle infrastructure

As of January 2025, there were fewer publicly available electric vehicle charging points in Lincolnshire (68 per 100,000 population) than in England (111 per 100,000 population), Nottinghamshire (76.8 per 100,000 population) and Leicestershire (71.6 per 100,000 population).

Lincolnshire has been awarded just under £6m in Government funding for Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure. This funding will provide approximately 2,100 ChargePoint sockets as part of a pilot project which will be followed by a larger roll-out.
(Source: Department for Transport)

Transport’s carbon contribution

In Lincolnshire, 38% of total carbon dioxide emissions are attributed to road transport. Road transport emissions in Lincolnshire (per capita) have fallen slightly since 2005, mirroring the picture for total emissions. Transport emissions per capita in Lincolnshire (1.86 tonnes) are lower than those in the East Midlands (2.06 tonnes) and slightly higher than England (1.65 tonnes).
(Source: Department for Transport)

Lincolnshire’s Lincolnshire Local Transport Plan 5 (LTP 5) was adopted in February 2022. LTP 5 seeks to address transport challenges in opportunities in the county by outlining short, medium and long-term ambitions for improving local transport and highways.

Local transport plans can reduce inequalities by improving equitable access to essential services like healthcare, employment, and education for all residents, especially for lower-income households and individuals with disabilities.

In May 2025, the first Mayor of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) was elected. The GLCAA was established in March 2025 and assumes a range of from the County Council, including responsibility for an area-wide Local Transport Plan.

At the same time a new administration was formed at the County Council. which will seek to develop its own transport policies and delivery plans, eventually superseding LTP 5. Accordingly, while LTP 5 remains current policy, the new administrations at LCC and GLCCA will both be looking to identify and adopt their own priorities soon.

(Source: Lincolnshire County Council: Local Transport Plan)

Typically, a transport authority will consult on the development or draft version of a Local Transport Plan. For example, consultation on LTP 5 was completed using web-based facilities – the most appropriate form of consultation in the circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the online survey, more substantive comments were welcomed via email and a virtual LTP conference was held. All District Council Leaders and Chief Executives from Greater Lincolnshire were invited.

The Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority is likely to undertake community and stakeholder engagement when drafting its forthcoming Local Transport Plan.

The new administrations at Lincolnshire County Council and the Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority will seek to identify and priority transport needs in the County and wider region.

For reference, Local Transport Plan 5 aims to meet the following needs and address inequalities across Lincolnshire as a whole.

• Supporting Economic Growth – Improved connectivity to employment opportunities and between communities, using a resilient and reliable transport system
• Future Ready Green Transport (Climate Change) – Reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and the need for travel whilst supporting more sustainable modes of transport
• Promoting Thriving Environments – enhancing the natural environment, reducing waste and providing sustainable access to Lincolnshire’s environment and heritage.
• Supporting Safety, Security and a Healthy Lifestyle – Improved safety and air quality, reduced noise and pollution, increased provision for active travel
• Promoting High Aspirations – Improve connectivity and access to education, healthcare and leisure. Encourage community co-production of transport services
• Improving the Quality of Life – reduce negative impacts of transport on people’s lives

As described above, the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority has assumed a range of transport functions from the County Council, including responsibility for an area-wide Local Transport Plan.

Concurrently, the new administration at the County Council will seek to develop its own transport policies and delivery plans, eventually supplanting Local Transport Plan 5.