News Article

UK - Manual for Streets is a definite step in the right direction

03 April 2007

The Manual for Streets, published today, has been broadly welcomed by Living Streets. It backs up our case that streets should be designed as social places, as well as to meet their traffic function. It also guides local authorities to consider the needs of pedestrians before they consider the needs of drivers.

There are five key areas of the Manual that Living Streets welcomes, and will be encouraging our supporters to use in local campaigns for better streets.

•It places equal weight to the 'place' and 'movement' functions of the street. This will change the way that local authorities value streets - giving proper weight to the human aspects as well as vehicular.
•It introduces a user hierarchy where pedestrians are considered first in the design process. A hierarchy of street users - with pedestrians at the top - has been a concept which Living Streets has long supported.
•It recommends a maximum design speed of 20 mph for residential streets. By ensuring that traffic travels at no more than 20 mph, pedestrian casualties can be reduced and social activity encouraged in residential streets.
•It recommends a new approach to street and safety audits, advocating the more balanced approach of a Quality Audit. Safety audits, whilst intended to improve safety for pedestrians, can have the perverse effect of deterring pedestrians by making the street environment unwelcoming.
•It urges a return to a more traditional, connected street layout. Living Streets campaigns for 'walkable' neighbourhoods, where it is possible for people to walk to most local services within 15 minutes. When streets come to a dead-end, as with cul-de-sacs, people will need to take long routes to access the things they need, and this makes it less likely that they will walk.

There are areas where the Manual for Streets could go further to improve our local street environments. In particular:

•It's weak on the subject of community engagement, which runs counter to the ideas in the governments recent Local Government White Paper
•It only applies to new streets - we want to government to be bolder and say it applies to existing streets too
•It needs to be accompanied by a change in culture at local and national level.

Tom Franklin, Chief Executive of Living Streets, said:
"For decades, our streets have been designed around the needs of cars rather than people. But over the past few years, the excuses for doing so have been running low. Local authorities have come to see the benefits of more people-friendly streets - for communities, the environment and the local economy. This Manual for Streets removes the final layer of excuses - that hands are bound because of regulations - and we look forward to seeing it put into practice around the country"

For more on Living Streets response, including links to an article for Surveyor magazine by Living Streets Chief Executive Tom Franklin: http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/news_and_info/news.php?id=730