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Home Zones conference
18/02/2002
Delegates attending the Home Zones Conference in
Stirling today learned about the benefits Home Zones bring
to local communities, and examined the progress of four
pilot schemes in Scotland.
Home zones are residential areas designed to meet the
needs of all road users equally. They incorporate people
friendly residential streets with reduced vehicle speed and
integrated safety measures for children, pedestrians and
cyclists. Pilot schemes are currently underway in Aberdeen,
Dundee, Edinburgh and Thurso.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister for
Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Lewis Macdonald
said that Home Zones create safer, greener and friendlier
neighbourhoods.
Mr Macdonald said:
"Children's play, social interaction, walking and
cycling should all be part of street life. Home zones will
allow pedestrians, cyclists and cars to share road
space.
"I believe home zones offer tremendous opportunities for
the future and open up a whole range of new lifestyle
choices for the people of Scotland. Neighbourhoods will be
created around the needs of people not traffic.
"The benefits of home zones include improving road
safety, building strong communities and improving the
quality of life in residential areas by reclaiming the
street space for social use rather than it being used
solely for cars.
Mr Macdonald praised the work done so far in the four
pilot schemes, one of which is in his own constituency, and
said he felt sure the lessons learned would be used in the
future to benefit other communities.
Evaluation of the pilots is being staged to correspond
with developments in each. It comprises 'before' and
'after' studies and the final report will be available in
2003.
Regulations outlining procedures which local authorities
should follow when setting up home zones will be introduced
on 1 April 2002. Guidance on implementation will follow
from the Scottish Executive shortly afterwards.
The conference has been arranged by the Home Zones for
Scotland Network.
The first four home zones in Scotland are being
developed in the Tillydrone area of Aberdeen, the Caledonia
area in Edinburgh, the Ormlie area of Thurso and the
redevelopment site of the Royal Infirmary in Dundee.
Similar home zone pilot programmes are being carried out
in England by the Department for Transport, Local
Government and the Regions. It has been envisaged that the
two studies should complement each other.
The Transport (Scotland) Act allows local authorities to
designate as home zones roads for which they are the
traffic authority and allows Scottish Ministers to
introduce Regulations. Regulations are currently out to
consultation.