Across the UK, the interest in and use of Home Zones is growing amongst housing developers, local authorities and regeneration agencies due to the benefits that can be achieved in meeting residents’ aspirations for their local streets.
Through the design of highways and their associated spaces, Home Zones provide a more attractive local environment, where quality of life is given priority over vehicle movement and where the social interaction and safety of residents is paramount.
Streets in a Home Zone are designed for residents’ uses whilst encouraging very low vehicle speeds and careful driving.
Home Zones can make a positive contribution to the regeneration of poorly performing housing markets and offer a multi-faceted cost effective solution to developers and residents.
A number of local authorities in the UK have facilitated Home Zones and monitoring of these schemes has broadly shown positive feedback both in terms of residents’ perceptions of enhanced local amenity and in significantly reduced driver speeds and road accidents.
The Sheffield Home Zone Guidelines set out key principles and design parameters for Home Zone schemes in Sheffield, which developers and designers who wish to progress Home Zones should follow.
We encourage developers to consider Home Zones in residential areas and will support their development through offering advice and formal highway adoption of acceptable schemes.