[sustran] [World Streets] Bad News Department: <BR> “Manual for Streets” ignored in Wales.

[Eric Britton (Paris, France)]

[http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/]
“Manual for Streets, published March 2007 by the UK Department for
Transport, gives new advice for the design of residential streets in
England and Wales. It represents a strong Government and Welsh Assembly
commitment to the creation of sustainable and inclusive public spaces.”

“The Department’s policy-making process received an award recently,
with Traffic Management Division winning a Royal Town Planning
Institute prize for its Manual for Streets. The award recognizes that
it is radically changing designers' and local authorities' approach to
residential street design for the better. It emphasizes that streets
should be places in which people want to live and spend time in, and
are not just transport corridors. In particular, it aims to reduce the
impact of vehicles on residential streets by asking practitioners to
plan street design intelligently and proactively, and gives a high
priority to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and users of public
transport.” – From the Dft project website (below).

The report is available at
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/


Yes but when you get to the street in Wales here is what you see (Ian
Perry reporting from Cardiff). . .

All Local Authorities in Wales have failed to respond to the offer of
training or more information on the Manual for Streets according to one
of its authors. The document is based on solid research and has won
much praise and many awards and yet Local Authorities continue to
design streets as they always have...

Only one person out of the 20 people in attendance at a presentation on
the Manual for Streets organized by the Chartered Institute of
Logistics and Transport, held in the council offices of Cardiff
Council, worked for a Local Authority (and not Cardiff), with the
remainder working in the private sector as engineers or consultants –
who reported that private developers were interested in applying the
findings of the research into Manual for Streets, but wary of Local
Authorities refusing to adopt streets.

It would seem that the public sector in Wales is not interested in
embracing different practices.

Thanks to the watchful Eyes on the Street and World Streets
Correspondent, Ian Perry, Cardiff, Wales, UK

Editor’s note: We strongly invite commentary and if available further
information on lessons to be learned from this experience.

--
Posted By Eric Britton (Paris, France) to World Streets at 4/10/2009
10:22:00 AM
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20090411/9fae39d8/attachment.html