« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
1. Chapter One Introduction
Background
1.1. This report sets out the findings from the evaluation of Home Zones in Scotland. The evaluation work has been carried out for the Scottish Executive by Land Use Consultants in association with FaberMaunsell, the Small Town and Rural Development Group and Dr Richard Mitchell of Edinburgh University.
Home Zones
1.2. Home Zones were originally developed in Denmark and the Netherlands in the late 1960s, and are now a widely supported part of community and transport planning across much of northern Europe. As a result of the government's road safety strategy 'Tomorrow's Roads, Safer for Everyone' and the UK Transport White Paper, local authorities in England submitted bids to develop Home Zones. Nine pilot projects were established in England, accompanied by a programme of pre and post implementation monitoring. In Scotland, the concept of Home Zones was officially launched at a conference held in 1999, although awareness of their potential benefits and some examples of their implementation had already begun to emerge. The Scottish Executive invited councils to bring forward schemes in 2000 with the aim of identifying 4 pilot home zones to be evaluated.
1.3. The selection of the 4 pilot Home Zones, together with the initial work on their evaluation, took place before the introduction of Home Zone regulations or guidance in Scotland. Section 74 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 enables local authorities to designate roads in areas for which they are the transport authority as Home Zones. The Scottish Executive brought regulations into force in July 2002 to set out the procedures a local authority must follow when designating a road in their area as a Home Zone. Guidance to accompany the regulations was published in August 2002 and launched by Lewis Macdonald the then Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning. The consultation period was lengthy to allow for comments on the applicability of the guidance and extended to the end of 2004. It is intended to update the Home Zones Guidance Consultation following the completion of the Home Zones evaluation.
1.4. Home Zones differ from other forms of traffic calming, implying an emphasis not primarily on road safety, but on quality of life for residents. Reducing speed and volume of traffic remain vital components of a Home Zone scheme. However, whilst initiatives like 20 mph zones aim to force drivers to reduce their speeds, Home Zones focus on changing driver behaviour and care, and also on resident perceptions. The Home Zone concept can therefore be considered an extension of traditional traffic calming, but at the same time it can also be considered a radical departure.
1.5. Home Zones therefore represent areas where community, social and environmental objectives have as much emphasis as traffic objectives. Successful Home Zones are ones where residents perceive a shared ownership and responsibility for communal space, where the existing inter-relationship between private and public areas is altered. Motorists should feel that they are 'guests', entering an area that is the domain of children and adults on foot or bike. This, together with reduced sight lines, and changes in horizontal and vertical alignment is intended to keep speeds at walking pace or slower.
1.6. The value of Home Zones lies not only in their outcomes, but also in the process of development. Planning a Home Zone should be undertaken in partnership with communities, who are often willing to a play a central role in defining where changes are most needed. Indeed, one of the key criteria used to identify the 9 pilot zones in England, was the level of community support that the proposals had received. This is key challenge where Home Zone principles are employed in new residential development since there is, by definition, no community to involve in the planning and design process.
1.7. Key features can vary according to the characteristics of the resident population, ranging from play facilities for children, to communal seating and areas of shelter where the population is predominantly older. Similarly, the townscape and topographical characteristics of the street itself can also shape the approach which is taken. Based on the principles of a 'woonerf' approach to streetscape design, some common components of schemes in existing housing areas might include:
- signage, road humps and other traditional forms of traffic calming which aim to reduce traffic speeds
- shared space demarcated by changes to road surfacing, built out pavements etc., with bollards used to restrict access to traffic to certain areas
- improved footpaths and cycleways, which link into wider networks;
- planting of the street (shrubs and trees) to 'green' the environment, provide shelter and encourage people to linger
- revised car parking to resolve existing problems, allow for activity in the street and encourage a reduction in speeds
- changes to the lighting in the street to improve perceptions of personal safety and local security
- community art and community greenspace such as a community garden
Four Pilot Home Zones
1.8. Given the novelty of the Home Zone concept in Scotland, and the importance of monitoring the Home Zone Regulations and Guidance when published in 2002, the Scottish Executive implemented a programme of monitoring and evaluation. The results of that exercise are set out in this report.
1.9. In 1999 the Scottish Executive invited local authorities considering developing Home Zones to nominate projects for inclusion within the monitoring and evaluation programme. As a result, the following 4 projects were selected as pilot Home Zones.
- Aberdeen, Tillydrone area - proposal to develop a Home Zone in an area subject to extensive regeneration and environmental improvement measures
- Dundee, redevelopment of the Royal Infirmary site to include apartments in converted hospital buildings and an area of new build dwellings, providing the opportunity to explore issues to do with new build as opposed to retro-fit Home Zones
- Edinburgh, Caledonian area - a proposal to develop a Home Zone in an inner-city tenement area with attendant issues of car parking and community turnover
- Thurso, Ormlie area. - a community initiated proposal to develop a Home Zone in a relatively low density housing estate on the edge of the town
1.10. The projects in Aberdeen and Edinburgh were not progressed, with the reasons for this being discussed in more detail later in the report. In response to these changes 2 additional Scottish Home Zones (Craighall in Stirling and Robert Street in Port Glasgow) have been included within the evaluation study, though with a more limited analysis. Focused evaluations of these Home Zones, based on a simplified methodology, have therefore been undertaken and the results are included within this report.
1.11. The implementation of the Dundee Royal Infirmary site has involved a series of new build houses and conversion of existing hospital buildings. Conversion work on the main hospital building has taken significantly longer than originally anticipated and until this work is complete the remaining Home Zone implementation works cannot be finalised. The projected timescale for completion of the outstanding works, combined with the required time lapse for a meaningful survey to be carried out meant that a decision was made to complete the evaluation without waiting for final completion of works at Dundee.
Evaluation project
1.12. The 6 year period over which the evaluation period took place meant that there were some changes in the individuals involved in the team and advisory group.
1.13. The study team for the evaluation of Home Zones in Scotland comprised:
- Land Use Consultants
- Faber Maunsell
- Small Town and Rural Development Group
- Dr Richard Mitchell
1.14. The Advisory Group for the study comprised over the period of the evaluation:
- Alan Brown, Transport Division 3,, Scottish Executive
- Caroline Burwell, Edinburgh City Council
- Helen Cameron Transport Division 3, Scottish Executive
- Hamish Clark, Transport Analytical Services, Scottish Executive
- Wayne Duerden, DTLR
- Karen Furey, Sustainable Transport Team, Scottish Executive
- Mike Giblin, Dundee City Council
- Richard Guest, Highland Council
- Sue Gutteridge, Home Zones Network
- Colin Howden, Transform Scotland
- Tom Lamplugh, Central Research, Scottish Executive
- Kevin McMahon, City of Edinburgh Council
- Elizabeth McNeill, Transport Division 3, Scottish Executive
- Ian Robertson, Transport Division 3, Scottish Executive
- Janet Ruiz, Central Research Unit, Scottish Executive
- Ewan Swaffield, Transport Division 3, Scottish Executive
- Sally Thomas, Transport Division 3, Scottish Executive
- Iain Wolstenholme, Aberdeen City Council
- Margaret Westwood, Play Scotland
1.15. The study team would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Advisory Group, local authority staff, community workers and local residents in undertaking the before and after studies.
Summary methodology
1.16. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of 4 Home Zone case study schemes in Scotland. Its objectives were to:
- compare the before and after situation in each scheme using measures such as traffic flow, speed, pollution, noise, travel patterns, parking, drivers' and residents' views and activities where appropriate
- monitor the development of each scheme including the type and extent of consultation between the local authority and the resident community, and the extent of community participation and support for the scheme
- assess the transferability of traffic management measures and techniques to change the way in which the street is used, to other Home Zone schemes
- assess whether the aims and benefits of Home Zones can be achieved within the existing legal framework and, if not, identify whether there is a need for additional or amended legislation to achieve such aims
1.17. There were 4 main stages to the monitoring and evaluation work:
- Stage 1: Inception and Before Studies (the results of this stage are set out in a progress report, dated 2001)
- Stage 2: Process monitoring
- Stage 3: After surveys (the results of this stage are set out in a progress report, dated 2006)
- Stage 4: Evaluation
1.18. The work has included a number of key elements including:
- meetings with key partners to understand the process of Home Zone development
- community involvement through resident questionnaires and findings from community participation exercises throughout the process of developing the Home Zone
- transport review including site survey, meetings with roads engineers or planning officials responsible for the roads element of the scheme. Traffic volumes and speeds were recorded at Ormlie and traffic surveys were undertaken at Dundee to gauge the success of the speed limiting features
- townscape analysis to build a clear picture of the current character, visual and functional amenity of the streetscape in each case. This was undertaken through site based and photographic observation
- analysis of Home Zone projects at Robert Street, Port Glasgow (implemented), and Craighall, Stirling (planned)
Structure of evaluation report
1.19. The remainder of the report is structured as follows:
« Previous | Contents | Next »