Home Zone, Egerton Street, Chester

Image: © Jaggery Taken: 6 Oct 2013

The Home Zone involves the use of innovative street layouts and green spaces to reclaim the streets for pedestrians, by relegating the motor car to the back seat. The scheme was introduced as part of the Government's £30 million Home Zones Challenge. This area has high-density housing with limited open spaces and greenery which suffered from rat-running (heavy use of a minor road by traffic trying to avoid major road congestion). A 20mph limit speed limit is in force. A spokesman for Cheshire County Council highways department explained more about the concept. The best analogy is pedestrianisation but without removing the cars because in a residential area that would be very difficult. People live there, and they need cars. It's an idea that from the 1960s and 1970s, originating in Denmark, Holland and Germany. The literal translation of the term they used is living yard. Installing road humps here would have been of limited benefit, because drivers can still see the end of the road and they tend to drive at a speed according to how much of the road they can see. If you change the visibility so that instead of having a clear run of 50-60 metres, you only have 10-15 metres without something else breaking up that visibility, then you cannot drive fast because you can't see if it's safe to drive at more than perhaps 10 mph. It's a bit like when driving down a street with cars parked on either side, you go slower in case anyone steps out. Psychologically, we need to get drivers to slow down rather than force them to go slower. Heavy traffic can increase isolation, particularly for the elderly and children. Home Zones should see more people outside their homes, with adults chatting on doorsteps and youngsters playing football in the street. There is evidence that people who are more socially active are less likely to suffer illness. Antisocial behaviour and crime is less likely to flourish where people are looking out for each other.

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