Framework for York’s Movement and Place Plan

The City of York has received a report setting out a Framework for a Movement and Place Plan. It was commissioned from consultants PJA.

Why Movement and Place?

The report explains that over recent decades roads and streets have been designed for the movement of motor traffic. This means that some people are excluded from walking, wheeling and cycling.

In fact, different roads and streets should be prioritised for different mixes of movement and place.

Change is therefore needed. The report recommends that York’s Movement and Place Plan should put in place:

‘disincentives to reduce the existing high number of short car trips made in York, while simultaneously enabling growth in pedestrian movement, cycle traffic and bus travel’.

Among the beneficiaries of such change will be:

• children and young people
• people with disabilities that prevent them driving
• families
• older people
• students
• young professionals and
• tourists and visitors

Challenges

Among the challenges identified by PJA are:

• no coherent network plan for multi-modal movement. The plan should be for a car-light city centre, and should include a motor traffic circulation plan
• lack of a freight management plan
• lack of ability to enforce moving traffic violations. This is necessary for modal filters (without hard barriers) and for bus gates
• lack of an investment strategy for transformational projects
• the difficulty of tackling car dependence and reallocating road space in favour of active travel and public transport

The report points out that the removal of car parking spaces is necessary to enable place-making projects, and that electric vehicles will not solve York’s congestion problems.

‘Trying to squeeze more cars and delivery vans on the same roads and hoping for the best is not going to work’.

Setting direction

This chapter of the report explores how the council can align its plans and priorities with a place-based approach to transport and traffic.

PJA had a meeting with York Council officers to establish what ambition and commitment there is to movement and place, using an A to E scale.

PJA believe that York is targeting Level A, and in the shorter term some projects associated with Level B will help with a transition towards A.

The report looks at the impact of different levels on the ambition and commitment scale in seventeen areas.

They include traffic modelling.

And traffic circulation and the main road network.

Some of the council plans and programmes which will help York align its actions with its policies include:

• Climate Change Strategy
• Local Transport Strategy
• Movement and Place Framework and Plan
• Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan
• Capital and Revenue Funded Programmes and Projects

A Framework for Movement and Place

This chapter suggests a framework for a coherent plan for movement and place in York.

It is divided into six themes:

1. Investing in the public realm
2. Making connections
3. Deciding the right mix of traffic in the city centre
4. Enabling active travel and public transport for all
5. Defining a multi-modal network
6. Delivering projects on the ground

1) Investing in the Public Realm

This means designing for ‘place’, which requires different expertise to design for movement. PJA suggest taking a Healthy Streets approach.

2) Making Connections

This involves deciding which places York wants to connect, including neighbourhoods inside the Outer Ring Road, and villages outside it.

Connections need to be put in order of priority.

3) Deciding the Right Mix of Traffic in the City Centre

PJA recommend:

• establishing options for a mobility and traffic circulation plan, with steps towards a car-light or car-free city centre
• ambitious bus priority
• major place-making projects, for example on Parliament Street
• improving permeability for cycle traffic
• a freight action plan, including incentivising e-cargo cycles
• a Blue Badge strategy
• ‘intelligent’ modal filtering facilitating emergency services where required

4) Enabling Active Travel and Public Transport for All

People should be given the choice to make the journeys they need to by the most appropriate modes for them.

‘In York, cyclists generally need safe streets and roads to cycle on for short, coherent trips. Cyclists need a welcoming environment which makes cycling an attractive option for transportation for all, so that people can cycle with their families and young children’.

This means an environment which is very lightly trafficked by motor vehicles, or physically separated from motor traffic.

Measures that enable active travel and public transport for all include:

• a Healthy Streets approach to design decisions
• reducing vehicle speeds
• School Streets
• rural modal filtering
• area-based traffic management
• crossings
• contraflow cycling

Streets should be assessed proportional to their importance in movement and place.

5) Defining a Multi-Modal Network

York has a target to reduce car use by 20% by 2030.

A multi-modal network plan would define priorities for different modes of transport along each busy route.

‘These modal network plans will not be largely self-evident, primarily due to the level of ambition for mode shift, and the complexity that will be necessary to satisfactorily resolve conflict between different modes to design a multi-modal network that aligns with the council’s high-level ambition for movement and place, and mode shift’.

As far as cycling is concerned:

‘…growth in cycle traffic occurs where there is dedicated, fit-for-purpose space for cycling, generally free of intrusion by heavy and fast motor vehicle traffic’.

Facilities include:

• dedicated cycle tracks on busier streets
• quiet 20mph streets
• greenways away from the main highway

A multi-modal network plan might prioritise buses and cycle traffic over motor traffic on many radial routes in and out of York’s city centre.

The benefits of a multi-modal approach include:

• reducing air pollution
• more reliable journey times
• reduced noise pollution
• reduced road danger

6) Delivering Projects on the Ground

The phasing of projects is complex. Trials and pilots are important.

Taking Action

Possible scenarios include:

• start with School Streets
• better bus priority and place-making
• overnight transformation of traffic circulation
• quickly building ‘missing links’
• chase the funding
• engaging with major employers

PJA say that telling a good story is important – presenting a Movement and Place Plan in insightful and engaging ways.

One point to bear in mind in prioritising projects is that segregated cycle tracks cost £1 million or more per kilometre and can take 3 years to deliver, whereas modal filters can cost around £50,000 per km.