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Section 7: Home Zones
This section provides guidance on the designation of Home Zones.
Key points: |
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A Home Zone is a place where the whole of the space is available for a range of different uses The speed of vehicles must be low enough to satisfy the local authority that any permitted activities may be enjoyed safely by people of all ages and abilities In Home Zones, objectives for improving and maintaining the quality of life for local residents should take precedence over general objectives to ease traffic movements. |
109. A road in a Home Zone is a place where the whole of the space is available for a range of different uses. The speed of vehicles must, therefore, be low enough to satisfy the local Traffic Authority that any activities may be enjoyed safely by people of all ages and abilities. Home Zones aim to improve the quality of life in residential roads by making them places for people, instead of just being thoroughfares for vehicles. The key elements to a Home Zone are:
- community involvement to encourage a change in user behaviour
- for the road to be designed in such a way as to allow it to be used for a range of activities and to encourage very low vehicle speeds (usually involving sensitively designed traffic calming).
110. The Executive considers that only roads which are predominantly residential and either have very low traffic speeds already (well below 20 mph), or have measures applied to bring speeds down to these levels, are appropriate for consideration for designation as a Home Zone. Home Zones can be designed as part of new residential developments, or retrofitted into existing residential communities.
111. Section 74 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 and the subsequent Home Zone (Scotland) (No 2) Regulations 2002 enable Local Traffic Authorities to designate as Home Zones roads in their areas for which they are the traffic authority.
112. The Executive published consultation guidance on implementing Home Zones in 2002. Comments on this and practical experience gained from pilot projects will inform any changes to the guidance, which is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/housing/hzgc-00.asp. Information about Home Zones is also available in TA Leaflet 8/02 and at http://www.homezonenews.org.uk.
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