Pedestrians

Street Design

Department of Transport (DfT); Manual for Streets (2007), gives advice for the design of residential streets in England and Wales.

Guidance on footway and carriageway provision can be found on page 42 of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Streetscape Design Guidelines [PDF 3.45MB] (2010).

DfT Local Transport Note 1/08 Traffic Management and Streetscape [PDF 2.52MB] (2008) intends to help all those involved in the design of traffic management measures to prepare schemes that consider and care for the streetscape.

Tactile paving should be provided at signal controlled crossings; dropped kerbs; or where the footway and carriageway are level at a junction; top and bottom of steps; at station platforms; and shared cycle and pedestrian routes. It is important that the appropriate tactile paving surface is used and the correct specification followed including the use of different coloured surrounding materials for the benefit of the visually impaired.

The different tactile paving types and the recommended layout is provided in the Department for Transport Guidance on the use of tactile surfaces on pavements [PDF 0.83MB] (2005)

Inclusive Mobility Guidelines

Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) gives disabled people a right of access to goods, facilities, services and premises. Service providers have to take reasonable steps to change practices, policies and procedures which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service; to provide auxiliary aids or services which would make it easier for, or enable, disabled people to use a service; and to overcome physical features, which make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service, by providing the service by a reasonable alternative method. These requirements apply to facilities and services in the pedestrian environment and in transport related infrastructure: bus stations and stops, airports and rail stations,for example.

Inclusive mobility guidelines were introduced by the DfT to provide good access for disabled people.

Inclusive Mobility – A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure

The designs that satisfy the inclusive mobility requirements can also meet the needs of many other people. Those who are travelling with small children and/or are carrying luggage or heavy shopping will all benefit from an accessible environment, as will people with temporary mobility problems (for example a leg in plaster) and many older people.

Further Guidance

Although the focus of the DfT Cycle Infrastructure design guide Local Transport Note 2/08 [PDF 3.28MB] is the design of cycle infrastructure, some of the advice is equally appropriate in improving conditions for pedestrians.

National Guidance on improving access to town centres is given in Going to Town: Improving Town Centre Access [PDF 16.57MB] (2002)

Relevant Policies

National Planning Policy

PPG Note 13 (Transport)

Brighton & Hove Local Plan