Boyack urged to legislate on Home ZonesTRANSform Scotland, the campaign for sustainable transport (1), today called on the Scottish Executive to use the Transport Bill to bring about "Home Zones", low-speed traffic-calmed residential streets where the needs of pedestrians are prioritised (2). The call comes the day before the Parliament's Transport and the Environment Committee meets (on Wednesday morning) to consider amendments put forward by Donald Gorrie of the Liberal Democrats and Robin Harper of the Green Party. The UK Government has in the past fortnight accepted the need for the Westminster Transport Bill to include an amendment on Home Zones. TRANSform Scotland is calling on the Scottish Executive to do likewise and ensure that Scotland is not left behind England in promoting safe residential streets. TRANSform Scotland Campaign Manager Colin Howden said: "The Scottish Executive's Transport Bill has been progressively watered down as a result of its timid approach to tackling our transport crisis. It is time for Sarah Boyack to put some life back in the Bill by giving local authorities the power to set up Home Zones. At Westminster, her counterparts have now accepted the need to provide for Home Zones in their Transport Bill. It is time for the Scottish Executive to do likewise. The Executive's commitments to reducing child pedestrian death rates will sound rather hollow if England gets Home Zones and Scotland gets nothing." Transport Minister Sarah Boyack is well aware of the concept of Home Zones, having announced a research project into the pilot Home Zones currently being taken forward in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Thurso by the respective local authorities. In November 1999, the Minister spoke at the conference of the Home Zones for Scotland Network (of which TRANSform Scotland is a member) and spoke in strong terms about the need for Home Zones (3). ENDS Notes to Editors: (1) TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport campaign, bringing together 68 organisations - including transport operators, local authorities, national environment and conservation groups, chambers of commerce and local transport groups - interested in transport, the environment and a sustainable Scotland. We can be contacted at 72 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh, EH6 5QG. Tel.: 0131-467-7714; Fax: 0131-554-8656; e-mail: campaigns@transformscotland.org.uk; web: http://www.transformscotland.org.uk (2) Home Zones - background info. A Home Zone is a residential street where people come first. The priority changes from cars to pedestrians. The street is reclaimed by its residents and becomes a protected outdoor space where cars travel slowly, barely above walking pace. Children can play in safety, and people can walk, cycle or simply sit and chat. Signs, traffic calming, seating, trees and shrubs, landscaping, play equipment, changes in road surface, and other street furniture all draw motoristsÕ attention to the fact they are entering a Home Zone, and that the priorities have changed. These physical changes also reinforce the change in status and purpose. There are over 6500 Home Zones in the Netherlands (called "woonerven"), and they are also common in Germany, Austria and Denmark. They are residential streets where cars must travel at little more than a walking pace, and give way to pedestrians and cyclists. Experience on the continent suggests that Home Zones have increased neighbourliness, reduced isolation among old people, reduced crime through passive supervision of the streets, and helped regenerate blighted inner city areas. The residents in a Home Zone are involved from the beginning in deciding how they want their street to be, and they take an active role, with much stress placed on it being their street, their Home Zone, their space. Key features of Home Zones are: ¥ Change in priority from cars to pedestrians ¥ Very low traffic speeds Ð 10mph or less ¥ Physical measures to reinforce change of status ¥ Support of local residents A Home Zone is a lot more than just imposing a low speed limit, such as the 20mph Zones currently being piloted in Scotland. The aim of speed limits is simply to slow down traffic, not to enhance the street space in any other way. ThereÕs no public space for play or other activities such as walking and sitting, and no physical changes to help bring this about. Neither is a Home Zone a pedestrianised street, because cars are allowed through, just at very reduced speeds. Nor is it a street playground. The whole street is not given over solely to childrenÕs play, but maintains a balanced use of the space, with all the residents benefiting from the changes, and cars seen as visitors to the area. (3) Home Zone - political background. In July 1998, the UK Government's Transport White Paper promised to bring in a pilot programme of Home Zones in England and Wales. These were launched in August 1999. In November 1999, at the Home Zones for Scotland Network's conference held in Stirling, Transport Minister Sarah Boyack announced that the Scottish Executive would bring in its own Home Zone pilot programme. These are being developed in areas in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Thurso. The pilot programme is very welcome. However, TRANSform Scotland is concerned that in two important respects British home zones will be less effective than continental ones. First, the law in other countries explicitly gives pedestrians, cyclists and cars equal priority in a home zones. Second all road users in continental home zones are required to travel at "a walking pace" (in practice, the maximum tolerated speed for vehicles is around 15kph or 9mph). (4) At the Home Zones conference held in November 1999, Sarah Boyack, Minister for Transport and the Environment, acknowledged the achievements of other European countries in establishing Home Zones: "One way forward is to connect people back with the streets and with their own living environment, and I think the concept of Home zones can go a long way to making that connection practical, to let people reclaim the streets and to let people feel that they've a real part to play in implementing a balanced approach to sustainable development." Copies of the report of the conference "Reclaiming Residential Streets for People" are available on request (normally £7.50). END OF NEWS RELEASE |