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Home Zones Guidance Consultation

4 Principles of Home Zones

Aims and Objectives

4.1 While there is no single blueprint for what a Home Zone should be, most will meet the following aims and objectives:

• achieve low vehicle speeds;
• reduce the number and severity of accidents and near misses;
• improve the quality of the urban environment;
• improve provision for pedestrians and cyclists;
• improve provision for older people, disabled people and the visually impaired;
• improve provision for children by providing safer streets and providing formal or informal play facilities;
• increase opportunities for social interaction within residential streets;
• encourage healthier and more sustainable lifestyles;
• facilitate community involvement and local empowerment;
• strengthen the sense of community identity and collective ownership;
• improve quality of life and wellbeing.

Home Zones should provide a safe environment
for children to play.

4.2 The importance of these objectives will vary according to the characteristics of the Home Zone and the priorities of the community in question. A key theme, however, is that Home Zones are about more than traffic calming or management. Home Zones represent a more holistic approach to residential environments. They have the potential to deliver a wide range of social and environmental benefits.

Principles

4.3 Home Zone schemes should reflect the following principles.

4.4 Home Zones should aim to reduce vehicle speeds to not much more than walking pace. Home Zones require speeds to be reduced significantly, changing the way the street is used and perceived. Since it is generally agreed that speed limits below 20 mph are impossible to enforce, Home Zones depend on a range of physical and environmental measures to slow vehicles. The entrance to the Home Zone should be marked clearly by a gateway feature and, in the case of larger schemes, reinforced by a series of repeat signs at key locations within the Home Zone. Other measures may include the use of special surfaces, road narrowings, chicanes, speed tables and shared space. Parking may be used to alter the layout of the street. Planting, street furniture and artwork can also be used to emphasise the special character of the Home Zone.

4.5 Home Zones are not anti-car but they do try and shift the balance in favour of other road users, particularly people on foot or cycle. By improving conditions for walkers and cyclists, people may be encouraged to make less use of their cars, particularly for more local journeys.

4.6 Home Zones can be created in a wide range of different residential areas. These may range from low density suburban estates to much higher density terraced or even tenemented streets. While some Home Zones will be exclusively residential, others may include land uses such as primary schools, community centres, recreation areas, corner shops or churches. Rarely will Home Zones include significant industrial or commercial activities.

One of the four Scottish pilot Home Zones
is in the Ormlie area of Thurso.
This community initiated project covers an estate
of single- and two-storey houses.

4.7 Home Zones are based on the idea that different users of the street share the roadspace. While there may be areas that are exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists, drivers should be aware that they have to share the 'carriageway' with other users. The design of the Home Zone should clearly communicate this message to drivers. This may be achieved by creating distinctive gateways to the area, avoiding the use of kerbs or other features that define the carriageway unambiguously, the careful use of materials, modifications to sightlines and the inclusion of sitting areas or play facilities within the street corridor. Drivers should feel they are guests in a residential environment. Local people should view the street as an extension of their external and internal living space.

Another Home Zone is proposed in
the Caledonian area of Edinburgh.
This tenemented area lies close to the city centre
and has a high population density.

4.8 Home Zones should normally be easily definable geographic areas. This may comprise a self-contained network of streets or a single suburban development. A well defined area will help drivers and local people (including children) know where the Home Zone starts and finishes.

The proposed Caledonian Home Zone comprises a
well defined network of streets off Dalry Road.

4.9 Home Zones must involve the community throughout the process of planning and implementation. This is likely to be most straightforward when the initiative was generated by the local community, though even then there is a need for continuing close liaison between the design team and local people as the scheme is progressed. Where the scheme is initiated by the local authority or another organisation, it is essential to involve local people at the earliest stage and to establish a mechanism for continuing community involvement. Without community involvement, support and 'ownership' of the project, Home Zones are unlikely to meet wider social and community objectives. Ideally, Home Zones will be in areas where there is either already a strong sense of community or where there is potential to build capacity and community identity.

The whole community should be involved in
planning and implementing Home Zones.
Here children make mosaic signs for the Five
Roads Home Zone in Ealing.

4.10 Home Zones are unlikely to be in areas where there is a significant amount of through traffic. High traffic flows will generally be incompatible with the aim of creating more liveable street space. Equally, measures designed to reduce speeds significantly are likely to be particularly frustrating for drivers whose trip begins and ends outwith the Home Zone. Of course, there are likely to be situations where it is inappropriate that traffic should be using a residential area as a through route. In such cases road closures or other measures may be necessary to create the conditions suited to a Home Zone. Careful consideration is required where bus routes pass through the Home Zone or where properties require frequent access by goods vehicles.

4.11 Home Zones should aim to achieve a wide range of benefits. Home Zones are about more than traffic calming and management and should aim to achieve a wide range of social, community, health and environmental benefits. Ultimately they should enhance the quality of life for people living within the Home Zone, bringing particular benefits for children, older people and less mobile people whose use of streets is often most significantly inhibited by traffic flows and speeds. It is important, therefore, that interests outside the sphere of highways and planning are involved from the outset.

Community planting in the Methleys Home Zone.
Theft of plants has been reduced by adding signs
describing the role of local people in the project.

4.12 Home Zones should be unique, designed to reflect the character of the local area and the preferences and priorities of the local community. There should be no set blueprint for the design of Home Zones. While some key features will be common to all schemes, the detailed design should reflect the character of the local area. While the choice of measures and materials should underline the different nature of the Home Zone, it will be important to reflect local vernacular where this is possible. It is also important that the design of the Home Zone reflects the preferences and priorities of local people. Design professionals (architects, landscape architects and artists) can play a key role in developing exciting scheme solutions that also reflect local aspirations and meet the functional requirements of a Home Zone. There is, of course, likely to be a need to balance different interests and to ensure that local aspirations are tempered by the availability of funds for the project. Consultation and continuing liaison are therefore essential to avoid creating aspirations that cannot be met.

The design of Home Zones should aim for:

• high quality design _ to raise the quality of the built environment. When budgets are limited it may be more effective to focus on a smaller area rather than reducing quality to cover larger areas. It may be possible to add further phases later;
• design for local distinctiveness _ to develop schemes that respond to, and reinforce, local characteristics rather than adopting standard or off-the-shelf design solutions. Public art may be a way of generating or emphasising distinctiveness. Whilst Home Zones will meet common objectives, projects provide an opportunity to develop innovative and exciting design solutions;
• sustainable design solutions _ wherever possible these should make wise use of materials in the construction of the Home Zone. Design should adopt a 'whole life' perspective, considering the durability of materials and maintenance requirements. The design should take account of the long- term implications and costs of managing and maintaining the Home Zone;
• design in partnership _ to develop scheme designs that reflect the aspirations and priorities of all stakeholders. The design team should act as facilitators, brokering a design solution that strikes a balance between aspiration and cost. Communication throughout the process is essential. It may be appropriate to involve property owners within the Home Zone so that improvements to the street are matched by refurbishment of buildings or private gardens.

4.13 Home Zones should be integrated into the surrounding area. While Home Zones should be distinctive and different, it is important that they are linked with surrounding areas. The Home Zone should be tied into wider pedestrian and cycle networks so the benefits do not stop at the boundary of the scheme. Depending on the nature of the Home Zone, there may be benefits in locating the Home Zone within a 20 mph zone. This would create a transition from normal roads to the Home Zone itself. It is important, however, that drivers are not confused by the different 'rules' that apply on different parts of the road network.

Home Zones should provide formal and
informal opportunities for play.
Here children play on the concrete spheres
marking parking areas within the Northmoor
Home Zone in Manchester.

4.14 Home Zones should provide new opportunities for play and social interaction. A key objective of Home Zones is to improve the range of play opportunities for local children. Reduction in vehicle speeds and reallocation of street space will in themselves facilitate play within the street. These improvements can be supplemented by including new play equipment within the scheme though this should be located carefully in order to avoid creating a source of nuisance for neighbouring residents. Equally importantly, an imaginative approach to design can create features that are both functional and create opportunities for creative play. Wider social interaction can be facilitated by providing seating or other areas where people can naturally stop for a conversation or to pass some time.

4.15 Home Zones should reflect the needs of the whole community. While children will be amongst the prime beneficiaries, the design of Home Zones should also aim to improve conditions for the elderly and disabled and those who are visually impaired. Choice of surfaces and the way in which shared space is demarcated will be critical, particularly for visually impaired people who would previously have relied on the clear distinction between the footway and carriageway. The involvement of local people and interest groups is therefore essential throughout the process.

4.16 Section 5 provides an overview of some of the technical and design issues to be reflected in Home Zone design. Section 6 describes the process of design and implementation in more detail.

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