Call to hand over urban space for walking and cycling

22nd Apr 2020

UK cities and towns are being encouraged to reallocate road space to active travel so that local people are better able to take daily exercise while maintaining social distancing.

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Brighton is thought to be the first local authority to introduce such an initiative, after it closed Madeira Drive – which runs along the south coast city’s sea front – to motor vehicle traffic from Monday this week.

The thoroughfare is open for walking and cycling. “It will provide a traffic free place for the many residents in that area who do not have access to a garden,” said Brighton & Hove City Council’s chair of the environment, transport and sustainability committee Anne Pissaridou.

“We are pleased to be able to offer this change so quickly and are considering other locations to see if we can extend this to other roads in the city.”

This comes after active travel campaign groups co-signed an open letter to the Department for Transport last week, urging road space which is currently underused as a result of the Covid-19 crisis to be temporarily reallocated.

“With the large increase in people, including children, cycling and walking, it’s clear that many street layouts across the UK are not currently fit for purpose during the pandemic,” the letter said.

It called for a clear ministerial statement encouraging local highways authorities to consider implementing initiatives to increase space for active modes. Signatories to the letter include Cycling UK, Sustrans, the Ramblers and the London Cycling Campaign.

Walking charity Living Streets welcomed also new guidance from the DfT which it said clarifies that local authorities have the powers to instigate local road closures, temporary cycle lanes or expand the footway.

The group’s policy and research manager Dr Rachel Lee said: “Towns and cities worldwide are starting to reallocate road space to allow people to move more freely and ensure people can carry out their daily exercise at a safe distance from others and free from road danger. Now we can start to follow their lead.

“Filtered neighbourhoods, banning cars from certain roads and tackling pavement parking can all help make our daily exercise easier and safer,” she added.

Hackney Council in London has announced that is it looking to ‘filter’ selected streets in the borough to reduce through traffic and prioritise walking and cycling.

Green Party candidate for Mayor of London Siân Berry welcomed the council’s approach but said in a video posted to Twitter that, across the capital, “we are not making the most of the space that we have on our streets to create enough space for people to socially distance safely while they are out and about”.

She called for the current Mayor Sadiq Khan to lead the way and reallocate road space to active travel on major Transport for London routes.

London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner Will Norman commented: “TfL and City Hall will work with London boroughs who are looking to reduce traffic on residential streets as long as this does not hinder the emergency services or other essential journeys.

“We are also looking at the busiest parts of our road network to see where we can give people walking more space. We are looking to adjust traffic signals to make it easier for people to cross while still enabling critical workers to use the road network easily. We will continue to speak to cities around the world to share ideas on what else we can do to support people walking and cycling.”

(Photograph: Marc Pether-Longman and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)

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