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SLOWDOWN has been campaigning for a 'Home Zone' in our area for some time. Although we were successful in having our bid recently supported by Liverpool City Council, the only one bid from each city was approved by the Government. The bid that was accepted from Liverpool was in the Grafton Street area of the Dingle.

Congratulations to them!

For us, the work goes on...

The Winners

Read the full text of the bid here

 

What are Home Zones all about?

A Home Zone is a flexible idea designed to follow the wishes of local residents and introduce new thinking into each scheme.

Some key principles:

• Priority for walking and cycling
• Cars are welcome, but they must move very slowly
• Children will be able to play safely with parents close at hand
• People will be more likely to spend time outdoors talking to neighbours.
• Planted areas or street trees can be introduced

One way of imagining a Home Zone is to think about how a typical camp site works - there are lots of cars on site, but they move very slowly, and less often, because it is accepted that young children have the right to move about and play in safety.

In European cities where Home Zones have been tried they have led to a better sense of community, less crime and housing in greater demand.

How could the principles be applied here?

We would want people in each street to make the detailed decisions over the three years of a Home Zone programme, but we have some basic ideas: ·

• Take through traffic out of Chetwynd Street and create a new opening in Aigburth Road to allow a right turn into St Michaels Road instead.
• In principle, each street should take only its own share of traffic · For people living in Belgrave Road or Allington Street drivers would have the choice of just those two streets to reach their homes, together with the section of Bryanston Road and Buckland Street that connects the two streets.
• Better access for emergency vehicles throughout the area - e.g. "rising bollards" at Dingle Vale .
• A voluntary 10mph speed code, with investigation of new technology to monitor speed. · No reduction in car parking, parallel to the kerb. In fact, some of the parking in Bryanston Road would become legal and safe because junctions would have been restricted.
• Judicious use of speed humps in places where necessary.
• Careful planting of street trees at the "barren" end of Bryanston Road where space is not needed for car parking.
• Each entrance to the area to be coloured to show drivers they are entering a special pedestrian priority zone.

Let’s have your views, we can include your ideas and opinions in our campaign!