Design Guide SPD - Movement - Chapter 7

Great to see so much provision for pedestrians and cyclists. However I think there should be provision for varied landscaping to create a range of environments and make journeys a little more interesting.
In Leighton-Linslade we now have some bike repair stations at some locations which I think is a good idea.

There is insufficient focus and provision for rural areas within this design guide. As an example, section 7.4 states that off carriageway cycle tracks and bridleways should be .... and lit. Having lit routes is not appropriate in rural areas and many villages, especially in areas with Dark Night Skies. In rural areas, it may be preferred and more efficient to have foot/cycle/equestrian routes well away from the road, for reasons of convenience, tranquility and user safety (especially where roads are often national speed limit).

Section 7.21 does not contain provision for rural areas and small villages, especially in areas of Dark Night Skies. It may not be appropriate to have rural and small village areas "well lit", especially in areas of Dark Night Skies. Appropriate provision needs to me made for sensitive (or no) lighting in these areas.

Play streets are a great idea and I am glad to see there is provision for electric vehicles. I am satisfied that security is taken into account with the provision of cul de sacs whcih do make streets more quiet and secure.
I feel there should be a range of dimensions of houses to cater for the range in dimensions of people and at least some houses need disabled access (but I don't think all.)

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Street Trees:
Defaecation by perching birds will be a problem for cars parked below their canopies. If the trees contain red/blue berries that they forage on, this could exacerbate any damage to vehicles. Types of tree, watering requirements and any characteristics regarding extent or nature of root spread, will also be key (e.g. willow/cherry can be problematic).

Road Widths:
I have commented in Chapter 5 about swept path analysis for new estates which don't always take account of existing residents' street parking. An example is where terraced homes provide parking at the front of the properties but this road width is not marked out and frequently not excluded from swept path measurements at a junction being proposed for a new estate road. Subsequently, larger vehicles trying to to access the new estate (e.g. bin lorries) do not have adequate turning capacity at these junctions, when there are parked cars there. This causes conflict when the new residents ask for DYL outside the terraces but the existing residents have nowhere else to park and have been parking there for decades.

Street Lighting:
Again brought up at Suscoms. LED temperature and intensities need to be controllable (preferably remotely). These lights can be very (too) bright in residential areas and I have had to request that filters be added in a number of instances, as they can affect bedrooms and impair residents' sleep quality.

I applaud the hierarchy of transport modes, putting walking/cycling first along with public transport. This really needs to be enforced most strongly. Too many new projects are still prioritising private cars. In Leighton Buzzard we have the relatively new "retail park" at the end of Grovebury Rd which is impossible to reach safely by either walking or cycling! Goodness knows how that ever got through planning. Another problem is lack of permeability. A classic example again in Leighton Buzzard is the new "eastern estates". There almost NO access points for walking/cycling from the existing town. Even the main roads don't have connecting pavements! Whilst these were designed 20 years ago, it's still happening now - Biggleswade has a new estate with total lack of permeability. Developers must be pulled up on these poor plans at the beginning. Permeability is essential or residents will not switch to walking/cycling.

I support all of the ideas around walking/cycling first, permeability, street character, trees, school and play streets, etc. The elephant in the room is the large, fast, major road system which is incredibly noisy and polluting. Central Beds seems to have more than its fair share of these type of roads. With reference to shared space, I would advocate road spaces that have no signs at all, no markings, no kerbs (flat all the way across), no street furniture etc. People would be much more cautious especially drivers. Perhaps an experimental example somewhere please? :-).

Billington Great and Little with also a large community of Travellers living in Little Billington and nearby Stanbridge Road (Stanbridge Parish) nearer to Billington than Stanbridge. The Parish play and leisure space is good and sufficient, although the tarmac area where some equipment is sited needs a re-tarmac.
It is extremely dangerous for children and adults to cross the very busy B440 to access the play and leisure facilities. A crossing is required for safety.


In the Design Guide it states, see below:-


Ideally the location of the play space should allow easy access from all parts of the development, near to well used pedestrian routes with good surveillance from neighbouring properties. Access to play space should also avoid the need to cross major roads and other hazardous obstacles. Footpaths which are to be used as a main access footpath to the rest of a green corridor should not run through the middle of a play area.

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I support the layout of the streets, the hierarchy and the the need for buildings to overlook pedestrian paths and cycleways. Poundbury is an excellent example of this.
800m is a long way from a bus stop. It is important to have fast direct buses that are on key routes and maybe a a distance of 800 metres away, however provision has to made for buses for the more infirm. Carrying a heavey bag of shopping 800metre can be impossible for many people.

Parking courts should not be allowed in any circumstances s they cause so many problems and people tend to park on the street. streets should be wider with designed in parking. There should be plenty of parking in town centres as this is an area of towns not cities and so the use of one car per household if crucial to access facilities. However really good public transport and cycleways will reduce car use.

7.2.14
This is not strong enough. There have to be connected safe cycle and pedestrian routes from the new estates to town centres, services, schools stations and other villages etc. The through connectivity is crucial to whether a new estate just creates congestion in a town or whether people actually have the choice to cycle or walk safely. This needs to be made stronger so that section 106 for through routes can be obtained. The eastern Leighton Linslade development has no through routes or connectivity for cycling to the rest of the town. As a result the traffic in the town is getting worse and worse. There is a real lack of joined up thinking and lack of officers to deliver on through routes in CBC so this need for through routes needs to be addressed by developers

para 7.3.1 I really support the need for seats along streets. it is so important. There should be clusters of seats so that people can sit and talk to each other and look directly at each other, ie more than one bench in a place.
There should also be space for children to play along streets on their way to school. So areas where the pavement is much wider with seats, something to climb on for children, trees, logs, something natural, shrubs etc so that walks are interesting experiences.

para 7.4
speeds should be 20mph where residential fronts the street.

Public transport. Some very good points but it is crucial that the developers think about the actual bus service and providing an alternative for both working people and retired people to access work and services regularly so that residents do not need a car. . With estates of over 10 houses this is crucial.

7.7, 7.8. 7.9
There needs to be connection to urban heat and mitigating colder temperatures in the discussion on street trees. Biodiversity by Design TCPA 2006 is ecxcellent on this
Biodiversity needs to integrate with street trees so that the issues of habitats and food for birds and pollinators are central. Shrubs both native and non native can play a huge role in attractiveness of the area and supporting birds and wildlife. The should be along the street, untidy areas of nature with long grass, wildflowers etc so that a childs walk to school can be much more interesting. Corridors for wildlife need to come right into the estate so that people can enjoy wildlife in their gardens.
Creepers should be considered by houses to help with climate adaptation. There need to be far more street trees and greenery in new estates.

There should be much more emphasis on permeable paving both on roads, pavements and cycleways so that where possible flooding is alleviated.
Where possible colours should be incorporated and art work should be incorporated especially if it can encourage active play on walks. Pavements should be child centred as small children are so much closer to the pavement than adults.

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Page 66 - only a few drivers understand that it is supposed to be a pedestrian priority space . (The Highway Code does not even mention shared spaces - drivers do not learn about them.) Overall, drivers assume they are roads on which they can drive anywhere, at 30mph, and expect pedestrians to get out of their way; drivers also seem to believe they can park anywhere on shared space roads - including at junctions, making it difficult for pedestrians to negotiate the raised tables or humps and chicanes. They should not be promoted as an option. They certainly do NOT encourage most drivers to slow down.

Page 67 - Whether pedestrians … should be provided with segregated facilities’ - in any built up area, it is imperative that pedestrians are given footpaths protected by a kerb to segregate them from traffic. Pedestrians should not have to jump out of the way of vehicles speeding through developments.

Page 69 - Pedestrians have priority over vehicles and streets are designed to produce very low vehicle speeds.’ The highway code does not provide a road sign that states that pedestrians have priority over vehicles; moreover, the figure does not show any signage indicating this. Drivers, therefore, will be unaware of this rule. How will you make them aware? How will it be enforced? If drivers are not aware, and if it is not enforced, pedestrians will be at risk from speeding vehicles.

A further point to note regarding the use of shared spaces is that drivers are often not aware they are entering one; further, they are not aware when they leave one. There are many drivers who drive or park on the footpath of Maunder Avenue, King’s Reach, because they think it is a shared space. It isn’t. Share spaces need to be properly signed (official signs for shared spaces exist in other countries, not in the UK - possibly because the DfT does not encourage their use), also the end of a shared space should be properly signed - and correct use of the roadway enforced, for example, to keep the footway clear for pedestrians.

My response to this publication.
7.0 Movement.
7.18 verges.
7.20 drains
7.21 street lighting.
Fine words, but reality has not and continues to fail to match CBC .Officers response

ACCESSABILITY. COMPACT FORM OF DEVELOPMENT.
Laudable ideals, but once again fails to be evident in any development since the Planets Estate.
Sandhills Estate and the vast estates to the East of Leighton Buzzard are a bleak wasteland of houses, built so close together they lack green space, landscape or amenities.

The proposed sports centre seems to require the Tiddenfoot to be demolished, therefore forcing residents near the Town Centre and Linslade to travel by car towards the A5, in order to access the new replacement.
Are there plans in the pipeline to use Tiddenfoot Site to make improvements to Cedars School , or will it too become just another housing estate.

Community Facilities.
Access roads
Open landscape.

Once again laudable suggestions, BUT CBC HISTORY OF APATHY FOR ALL THINGS LEIGHTON -LINSLADE DOES NOT SUPPORT THE TEXT IN THIS DOCUMENT.

7.25 PEDESTRIAN GUARD RAILS.

THESE DO HAVE ADVANTAGES. examples:- at pedestrian crossings, preventing people jay walking diagonally across Pelican Crossings,,.and could provide protection on pathways through villages( eg. Great Billington where the only path is so narrow, the wing mirrors of large lorries overhang the footpath forcing residents into the hedgerow.

8.01Nature. No planning for green spaces east and south of LEIGHTON - LINSLADE . ANY POSSIBLE SPACE becomes yet another building site or even an extension to a quarry.

8.3 INTEGRATION OF DEVELOPMENT WITH THE LANDSCAPE. Once again this is yet another laudable ambition, however there is a lack of evidence that CBC place any weight to this in planning.

Since we are now surrounded by dozens of new developments, it is somewhat late in the day to begin yet again discussiion @ design and types of housing.
The hundreds of houses which circle and engulf the east and south of Leighton -Linslade demonstrate little interest or understanding of any of the statements in this latest Guideline.
CBC are gradually turning a "TOWN WITH MORE HISTORIC BUILDINGS THAN ANY OTHER IN BEDFORDSHIRE" into yet another wilderness of with row upon row of unimaginative houses and even damaging these still further by adding industrial units to complete the picture.
Even a child in primary school would not be expected to add industrial units to where they live,, but rather add trees and green spaces where they could run and play.
A once delightful market town has deteriorated in parts to an ugly unpleasant mess; with traffic chaos caused by the need to continually cross from one side of the town to the other. This chaos would be compounded still further if residents then had to drive across to to reach the planned new sports facility.
MOST WOULD NOT WISH TO NAVIGATE THE INADEQUATE BADLY DESIGNED BY - PASS WHICH WAS OUT OF DATE WHEN CONSTRUCTED. A BY PASS WITH TWO DESIGNATED LANES BETWEEN THE A5 AND THE A 505. WHERE IT MEETS A ROUNDBOUT. THIS ROUNDABOUT IS TOO SMALL FOR TWO LANE TRAFFIC, IS SITED ON A BEND WHICH LIMITS DRIVERS ABILITY TO SEE APPROACING VEHICLES.
To add to the by - pass misery and danger are the new exits from haphazard small developments ( with more soon to be added) from the by - pass to Chartmoor Road..

Frank Muir wrote a book about a dog , The title is " What a Mess!" This best describes reality v fiction!
Helen Thompson.
Chair of Billington Parish Council.

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Response from South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth to the Design Guide Consultation.


This has been a very difficult consulation for community groups. There is a lot repetition making it a very long document and very unwieldy to comment on.

This design guide contains some really exciting work in chapter 12 on Sustainability and biodiversity. However this does not seem to clearly run through the guide. This chapter with the case studies should be at the start of the document and then there could be further details after this.
The design guide is severely hampered by the objectives of the Local Plan which are really out of date in relation to the sixth carbon budget and the latest work which shows how depleted the UK is in terms of Nature using the 2019 State of Nature report which highlights that 44 million pairs of breeding birds have been lost since 1967, 97% of wildflower meadows lost since the 1960’s, huge declines in hedgehogs and butterflies.

There need to be targets for Biodiversity creation as a whole in Bedfordshire and then these need to feed through into the design of green spaces and landscape. There needs to be much more emphasis on flowering shrubs both native and non native, ivy, spring bulbs that support pollinators, areas of long grass, wildflower meadows with management plans, areas of rotting logs, winding paths through trees and shrubs etc, areas of ponds that are kept filled up in the summer, untidy areas with brambles where birds can shelter from the huge danger of cats, areas of dead leaves and areas for hedgehodgs to hibernate and bare areas of earth on banks where solitary bees can create nests. The photos show very sterile areas for the most part.
As well as this there need to be corridors of flowering shrubs both native and non native for children to play with winding paths and big logs etc to encourage natural play. There need to be many informal play areas with old logs, shrubs etc and mounds and space for kicking a football for children to play out.

Health and co benefits of carbon cutting and sustainability need to run through this, opening up pathways for extra external funding to help with sustainability of the development.

In light of the Committee on Climate Change’s recent announcement on the slow pace of decarbonising the electricity grid, it is really important to include wind turbines/ farms going to a direct wire to a new estates, along with heat pumps etc and linking this in to landspace.

There needs to be far more in town centres to support artists who in turn create regeneration, and covered and indoor spaces. Solar panels on car parks and building and translucent solar rooves. Health and culture and local businesses and education on green skills need to be key to the town centre. Culture, heritage and the arts need to be key to supporting health, wellbeing and building community in town centres
There need to be much strong targets for cycling and walking .
Pollution into watercourses from microplastics in car tyres needs to be mitigated and prevented.
Response from South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth.
This has been a very difficult consulation for community groups. There is a lot repetition making it a very long document and very unwieldy to comment on.

This design guide contains some really exciting work in chapter 12 on Sustainability and biodiversity. However this does not seem to clearly run through the guide. This chapter with the case studies should be at the start of the document and then there could be further details after this.
The design guide is severely hampered by the objectives of the Local Plan which are really out of date in relation to the sixth carbon budget and the latest work which shows how depleted the UK is in terms of Nature using the 2019 State of Nature report which highlights that 44 million pairs of breeding birds have been lost since 1967, 97% of wildflower meadows lost since the 1960’s, huge declines in hedgehogs and butterflies.

There need to be targets for Biodiversity creation as a whole in Bedfordshire and then these need to feed through into the design of green spaces and landscape. There needs to be much more emphasis on flowering shrubs both native and non native, ivy, spring bulbs that support pollinators, areas of long grass, wildflower meadows with management plans, areas of rotting logs, winding paths through trees and shrubs etc, areas of ponds that are kept filled up in the summer, untidy areas with brambles where birds can shelter from the huge danger of cats, areas of dead leaves and areas for hedgehodgs to hibernate and bare areas of earth on banks where solitary bees can create nests. The photos show very sterile areas for the most part.
As well as this there need to be corridors of flowering shrubs both native and non native for children to play with winding paths and big logs etc to encourage natural play. There need to be many informal play areas with old logs, shrubs etc and mounds and space for kicking a football for children to play out.

Health and co benefits of carbon cutting and sustainability need to run through this, opening up pathways for extra external funding to help with sustainability of the development.

In light of the Committee on Climate Change’s recent announcement on the slow pace of decarbonising the electricity grid, it is really important to include wind turbines/ farms going to a direct wire to a new estates, along with heat pumps etc and linking this in to landspace.

There needs to be far more in town centres to support artists who in turn create regeneration, and covered and indoor spaces. Solar panels on car parks and building and translucent solar rooves. Health and culture and local businesses and education on green skills need to be key to the town centre. Culture, heritage and the arts need to be key to supporting health, wellbeing and building community in town centres
There need to be much strong targets for cycling and walking .
Pollution into watercourses from microplastics in car tyres needs to be mitigated and prevented.

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