Launching Streets for All: A New Vision for GM

Greater Manchester’s Streets for All Strategy has now been published. Here, Jonathan Marsh - Strategic Planning Manager at TfGM - offers an insight into the planning behind the Streets for All strategy and shares his thoughts on these exciting plans.

I’m delighted to announce that at the end of November, Greater Manchester’s new Streets for All strategy completed its final hurdle and is now finally published and adopted! Find out more at https://tfgm.com/strategy/streets-for-all

I say finally, not out of frustration but to acknowledge the time it takes to co-create and agree a new, ambitious policy document, working closely with all ten of our local authorities and stakeholders.

What is Streets for All?

Playing an important part in achieving the Bee Network vision - which will see the launch of an integrated transport network - Streets for All puts people at the centre of all we do. The Bee Network doesn’t just mean joining up our public transport modes. Integrated street design is also vital because we don’t just use streets to travel - we also use them to live, learn and work, as well as relax, play, socialise and exercise in them.

Streets for All is a new people-centred approach for everything we do on streets across Greater Manchester. The vision is to “Ensure that our streets are welcoming, green, and safe spaces for all people, enabling more travel by walking, cycling and using public transport while creating thriving places that support local communities and businesses.”

So, what does that mean in practical terms? We want to create a network of streets that are more welcoming and greener, so that they:

• Are accessible for those with mobility impairments
• Are safe and secure for everyone to use and spend time in
• Help incorporate more physical activity into people’s daily lives
• Provide good access to an integrated public transport network; and
• Help reduce emissions, to clean up the air we breathe and contribute to our carbon reduction targets.

Streets in Greater Manchester – Our Approach

In 2018, shortly after joining TfGM, the team and I were tasked with developing a strategy document that ”fleshed out” the multi-modal highway network policy approach set out in the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040.

Since then, we have been through a co-creation exercise to develop Streets for All that included:

• Learning from existing schemes in GM, including Chapel St on the A6 in Salford, Oxford Road Corridor in Manchester and Altrincham town centre
• Learning from what other places were doing - in particular London’s Healthy Streets approach (thanks for all your support Lucy Saunders!)
• Completing three pilot corridor studies to test approaches for developing street improvement schemes on different street types, such as radial and orbital corridors serving our major centres, and key city centre streets. These studies have also been important to us in developing our Quality Bus Transit (QBT) schemes
• Evolving national policy agendas, including DfT’s “decarbonising transport plan”, “gear change” and “bus back better”
• Chris Boardman’s recommendations in “Made to Move” and the development of the active travel Bee Network in GM
• And importantly, close working with GM LAs and wider stakeholders to understand different perspectives and user needs.

To ensure we are delivering the right street improvements we need to ensure we engage early and regularly with local communities and stakeholders. This is a key feature of our Streets for All approach.

The strategy sets out seven ambitious “Streets for All Essentials” that ensure we are creating high quality new streets in GM.

And we have identified five main street types, to assess the role of existing streets and to help to design improvements to existing and new streets.

The strategy also contains an action plan which details delivery priorities to meet the Streets for All vision. There are a number of actions in the Streets for All strategy that we are committed to delivering over the next year, including signing the international walking charter and publishing road danger and traffic reduction plans.?And we have identified a significant programme of streets improvements to be funded through our ￡1.07bn indicative City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement over the next five years.?

Watch this space for more Streets for All updates and news.?We have committed to reviewing the strategy after 12 months and would welcome any views on our approach. Please do get in contact with me, TfGM, or others in the team if you have feedback or would like to know more.

Jonathan Marsh Strategic Planning Manager, TfGM