CIHT hosted two delegates from the transport department in Hong Kong to share lessons from the CIHT review ‘Creating better streets: Inclusive and accessible places - Reviewing shared space’.  

Brandon Cheng from Road Safety & Standards Division and Mike T K Mack from the Task Force on Walkability – both from the Transport Department in Hong Kong - met with Antoneta Horbury, Director of Policy & Technical Affairs at CIHT and Justin Ward, Head of Policy & Technical Practice at CIHT.

In 2018, CIHT published the report ‘Creating better streets: Inclusive and accessible places - Reviewing shared space’. In the presentation to the delegation, CIHT outlined the background to the review, the overview of the project, the recommendations from the review, and the current position with shared space in the UK today.

The aims of the review were to set street design within the overall context of the statutory requirements on local authorities set out in the Equality Act 2010 and other legislation. The review also sought to set a framework of clear objectives that authorities can use to provide the basis for developing designs and the monitoring of completed schemes.   

The meeting reviewed a range of schemes identified as shared space and this involved drawing several conclusions around the typical benefits and impacts of such schemes. Finally, the meeting highlighted to the delegates that the review had suggested a classification of different street design types that might be helpful in developing approaches to future schemes.  It was noted that the recommendation for the need for detailed research into the needs of all users and around specific design features has still not happened.

The briefing concluded with the UK government’s announcement from July 2018 that stated: “Recommend that Local Authorities pause the development of shared space schemes which incorporate a level surface while we review and update guidance. Alongside this, we will temporarily withdraw Local Transport Note 1/11: Shared Space”,  and noted that there has not been any update on this issue since this time from the government on shared space schemes.

From left to right: Justin Ward, Brandon Cheng, Mike T K Mack, Antoneta Horbury