In 2021, the Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned Lucy Saunders to create a Healthy Streets tool that design and engineering professionals can use to identify the barriers to walking and cycling. 

1 What are the barriers to active travel?

The biggest barrier to streets being welcoming places for people to walk and cycle is other people driving fast or not paying careful attention when driving.

For too long our thinking about streets has been dominated by a focus on motorised vehicle capacity at the expense of ensuring people can safely walk or cycle, breathe clean air, walk side by side in conversation, cross a street or sit for a moment.

2 Which street features impede active travel?

The question to ask when examining infrastructure on a street is “has that been put there to make it easier for people who are driving, to go faster, or manoeuvre without paying attention?” – and if it has, then it’s a barrier to active travel. Street environments should not cue people driving, to go faster, or indicate they don’t need to concentrate.”

Roundabouts are one of the biggest barriers to people travelling actively and while forward-thinking authorities are actively removing them, others are still installing new ones. Other street elements, such as signage, sandwich boards or bins aren’t a barrier per se to active travel but where they are positioned can affect how accessible and comfortable the street is to walk or cycle in.

The new national Healthy Streets Design Check helps designers systematically assess all street elements at the same time, and determine which need to be adjusted, while still accommodating essential motorised vehicle usage.

It’s a quick and simple way to assess the best options for a new street layout also, whether that's adding in a bench, some trees for shade or a crossing point.

Designers and engineers use the Design Check to inspect elements such as kerb alignment, crossings and cycle parking and the results are presented in a way that is easily communicated to decision makers. The Design Check also reflects the latest design standards from DfT and was created with local authority officers to ensure it works well across the country.

3 Your tips for building trust with communities?

Show you are listening to concerns and will make changes if something isn’t working. That gives communities the confidence that they won’t be left with something that makes life worse.

Show that you deliver consistently to a high standard. Start with small projects and regularly communicate the benefits clearly and simply.

Some project teams underestimate the importance of making sure new designs don’t look too ‘engineering-led’. Minimise the use of signage and paint, create softer lines, think about the colour palette, and add planting in projects to help demonstrate that the changes are enhancing the local environment for everyone in the community, including those who do not intend to walk and cycle.

4 What role does communication play?

Communication is vital.

You really only hear from a minority of people most of the time: the people with the capacity, resources and time to do so. We don’t often hear from children, people using English as a second language, disabled people, and others who don’t have the capacity to engage.

People who distrust local authorities are unlikely to engage through formal channels. I worked on a project where community members were trained and tasked to get informal feedback from their social networks. This helped us hear from people who wouldn't usually communicate through standard channels.

Interview by Pamela Cahill

Transportation professionals can avail of the  10 Healthy Street Indicators and the Healthy Streets Index and the Healthy Streets Design Check to score every street in their locality.

There’s still time to book your place on the CIHT Monthly Masterclass - Transport Gluttony: Planning and Designing Active Travel Infrastructure Around the UK on 26 May at 13:00-14:00.