Presentation to Seminar on Barton West, Oxford - 9 June 2011

Reclaiming the Ring Road, Connecting Communities
The Case of Barton West

Realigning planning and highway engineering conventions
to achieve connected development

Why is connectivity so difficult?

Oxford

9 June 2011

Phil Jones, PJA

Phil Jones Associates sustainable transport solutions

“Some housing, such as this, meets planning and highway standards,
but fails to create a sense of place or identity. We need to set our
sights higher”

The Communities Plan - 2003


Where did this thinking come from?


Highway Engineering – invented in the 1930s

• Based on the physics of moving vehicles
• Assumptions about fixed driver behaviour (reaction time etc)
• For the most part...this thinking hasn‟t changed


Traffic in Towns
(The Buchanan Report)

1963


“It is tempting to say that the objective should be the complete segregation
Phil Jones Associates
of pedestrians and vehicles in all circumstances” sustainable transport solutions

Tottenham Court Road – from Traffic in Towns

Conventional Road Hierarchy –

Segregation increases with traffic flow

 Conventional traffic based hierarchy:

– Primary Route (Principal Arterial)

– District Distributor (Minor Arterial)

– Local Distributor (Collector)

– Access Road (Local)

 Where does a Main Street fit in?


Previous National Guidance on Residential Roads

Design Bulletin 32 Second Edition (1992)
(First edition 1976)

“Residential roads and footpaths are an
integral part of housing layout where ... in the
patterns of movement around buildings the
needs of pedestrians and cyclists for safety
and convenience are given priority in design
over the use of motor vehicles.”


But highly standardised car-led geometric standards...


...created highly standardised, car-led layouts...


Welcome to
Barton!


Poundbury, Dorset

New Hall, Harlow


Manual for Streets (2007)

Streets are the arteries of our
communities – a community‟s
success can depend on how well
it is connected to local services
and the wider world.

MfS is clear that uncoordinated
decision-making can result in
disconnected, bland places that
fail to make a contribution to the
creation of thriving communities.

(MfS Foreword)


Aims of Manual for Streets
 Bring about a transformation in quality

 A fundamental culture change to achieve streets that:
– help to build and strengthen the communities they
serve;
– meet the needs of all, by embodying the principles of
inclusive design
– provide part of a well-connected network;
– are attractive and have their own distinctive identity;
– are cost-effective to construct and maintain; and
– are safe.


Existing context

 How has the area developed?
 How does the site fit into the pattern and character of
local streets?
 What are the key local destinations?
 Where are the important existing places?

...attractive and well-connected
permeable street networks
encourage more people
to walk and cycle to local
destinations, improving their health
while reducing motor traffic, energy
use and pollution.


Permeability
 Labyrinthine and badly connected places encourage car use
Street networks should, in general, be connected. Connected, or
„permeable‟, networks encourage walking and cycling, and make
places easier to navigate through.
They also lead to a more even spread of motor traffic throughout
the area and so avoid the need for distributor roads with no
frontage development.


Developing a Movement Framework
 Where are the key desire lines?
 How can the development enhance the existing
movement framework rather than disrupt or sever it?
 What points of connection and linkage
can be achieved?
 Should these be for all modes?
 Can concerns over „rat running‟ be
addressed through slower speeds?


When developing outline masterplans
for large-scale proposals, such as an urban
extension, the design team needs to
consider the longer-term vision for the area
in question.

Such a future-proofing exercise involves
looking beyond the usual planning periods
to consider where development may be in,
say, 20 or 30 years.


External Permeability

MfS - Internal permeability is important but the area also
needs to be properly connected with adjacent street
networks. A development with poor links to the surrounding
area creates an enclave which encourages movement to
and from it by car rather than by other modes.


Manual for Streets 2

Wider Application of The Principles

• Published September 2010

• How much difference has it yet made?


Manual for Streets 1/2 - What applies where?

MfS DMRB


MfS (1 and 2) Key Principles
 Hierarchy – consider pedestrians first

 Strike a balance – traffic is not always paramount

 Respect pedestrian and cycle desire lines

 Permeable and connected networks are preferred

 Collaborative approaches work best

 Innovation is encouraged


 Two dimensional approach to Hierarchy – Movement and Place

 Design choices need to respect both functions

 Some Movement corridors are more important than others…

 Some Places are more important than others...

High Street
Movement Status

Motorway

Rural Lane

Residential Street

Phil Jones Associates Place Status sustainable transport solutions

Place

Place

Place

Place
Place

Movement

Context: Urban and Suburban Areas

Street Type: Boulevards


Context: Shared Space


Poynton


What’s the Problem?

• Persistent concerns over potential for highway
authorities – and individual officers/members – to be
held liable for design faults and innovations.
• No evidence that this is actually a significant problem
in practice.


Legislative duties and judgements

Highway Risk & Liability Claims
A practical guide to Appendix C
of „Well Maintained Highways‟
• Produced by UK Roads Board
• Advice, case studies and
judgements on liability


Legislative duties and judgements
Three Principles:
1. Court rulings repeatedly state that road
users are responsible for their own safety
and have a duty to take the road as they
find it. This defines the road user as an
intelligent being, able and expected to
exercise their own judgement.
2. The highway authority should avoid
creating a trap for road users.
3. The highway authority should not act
irrationally.


Judgements
• No duty to give warning or maintain
warning of obvious hazards
• No duty to erect of warning signs
(including markings) for obvious
hazards
• Cases:
• Gorringe v Calderdale
• Stovin v Wise & Norfolk CC


Gorringe (Appellant) v.
Calderdale Metropolitan
Borough Council (2004)
On 15 July 1996, on a country road in Yorkshire,
Mrs Denise Gorringe drove her car head-on into
a bus. It was hidden behind a sharp crest in the
road until just before she reached the top.

She said that the council caused the accident
by failing to give her proper warning of the
danger involved in driving fast when you could
not see what was coming.

The „SLOW‟ road marking on the approach to
the crest had become worn.


Gorringe (Appellant) v.
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough
The House of Lords
Council (2004)
LORD STEYN
• …the courts must not contribute to the creation of a society bent on
litigation, which is premised on the illusion that for every misfortune
there is a remedy.

LORD RODGER
• I am satisfied that the duty to maintain the highway
does not include a duty to repaint warning signs on
the surface.
LORD HOFFMANN
• People must accept responsibility for their own actions and take the necessary
care to avoid injuring themselves or others.
• The users of the highway are expected to look after themselves.
• Drivers of vehicles must take the highway network as they find it.


What’s next?
 Local Transport Note on Shared Space – coming soon
 TAL on Quality Audits through CIHT
 CIHT Rolling revision of Transport in the Urban
Environment or...
Manual for Streets 3!

3


So why is it so difficult to achieve connectivity?


Local Standards – What MfS Says

 Local standards are important to reflect local context
 Local standards need to cover placemaking and urban design
 Focus on improving local distinctiveness
– Vernacular details
– Material choices
 Local authorities are strongly recommended to review standards
and guidance to embrace MfS principles.


“The Lincolnshire Design Guide for
Residential Areas (1996) advocates
the qualities of traditional settlements
over those of recent developments by
juxtaposing illustrations of both.”

“In the following pages it then
proceeds to propose a road layout
which would clearly make it impossible
ever to produce the type of traditional
settlement that is considered so
admirable.”

Sue McGlynn and Ivor Samuels, 2000.


 6Cs Design Guide (East Midlands Authorities)
 Initial review in 2007 following MfS – but mainly junction visibility
 More comprehensive review said to be pending...


Worcestershire CC new standards...


South Yorkshire document structured around
Building for Life

20 questions, 4 Groups

 Environment and Community

 Character

 Streets, Parking & Pedestrianisation

 Design and Construction

Streets and connectivity are fundamental to BfL...


14.Does the scheme integrate with existing streets, paths and
surrounding development?

The Russells, Broadway, Worcestershire

Group 3 - Streets, Parking & Pedestrianisation


Initial Vision Stage
Authority advises on the scope
Applicant gathers and
of information required, policy
formulates vision
framework etc

Concept Development Stage
Local authority development
Applicant develops conceptual
team appraises proposals
design
against BfL

Application Submission Stage
Local authority assesses
Applicant finalises and submits
proposal and processes
application
application for determination


Parameter-based standards
Use traffic volumes and speed, not counting dwellings:


Pessimistic traffic forecasts can make it
harder to achieve connectivity.

 More connected places have lower car use
 But the TRICS database uses the least connected ones
 Because they‟re easier to survey!


And in the Developer‟s world...


But in the end...

transport economics are the key factor in shaping development patterns.


National Transport Model – Growth Forecasts


National Transport Model – Oil Price Assumptions


And have we already reached Peak Car anyway?


Final Thoughts

 Permeability and connectivity are the new orthodoxy
 Amongst some professionals at least!
 Significant barriers remain
– Outdated local standards
– Reliance on the private sector assembling land
– Public and political objections
– Localism...
 But more significant drivers of change may already be here.

pj@philjonesassociates.co.uk

Twitter.com/Phil_PJA

0121 222 5422


Presentation to Seminar on Barton West, Oxford - 9 June 2011

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