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Feasibility Study SummaryJuly 2020

Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood


Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 3

Report summary

Understanding how the community feel about Levenshulme

The changes you told us you’d like to see (Top 5)

Trialling a filtered neighbourhood in Levenshulme

Sustrans was commissioned to deliver a programme of community engagement and collaborative design activities to support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s first ‘fully filtered’ neighbourhood, as part of the wider Active Neighbourhood vision.

A ‘Tell us about your street’ survey was sent to 9000 households. It was completed by 590

households.

Over 137 people attended the Co-Design Event in January. 102 people attended in February.

919 comments were submitted on the

Commonplace map. 64.9% of the users who specified a connection

said that they live within the area.

An overwhelming number of respondents were worried about too much traffic and rat running.

When describing places in the area, 91% felt that it was important for that place to be served by healthy walking/cycling routes

You told us:

• Which streets to filter• Where the filters could go• How we can support

the filters with other improvements

34% of respondents felt that they were not very comfortable or not at all comfortable walking in the area.

Even fewer people felt comfortable cycling in the area, with 66% in total feeling not very or not at all comfortable.

Through working with the community, 5 key design principles were identified for how the area could be improved:

1. Making active travel a viable option

2. Accessibility3. Greenery and attractiveness4. Connectivity5. Distinctly Levenshulme

Filtered Neigbourhoods can address rat running,

speeding and too much traffic, all

issues raised by the community. Further

benefits include better access to

green spaces and reduced air pollution.

Using these principles, a Filtered Neighbourhood design has been produced, with plans to trial it from Summer 2020.

This is a chance to understand if it works and how the local community feel about it.


Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 5Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 4

Manchester City Council (MCC) and Levenshulme Bee Network (LBN) were successful in securing funding from Transport for Greater Manchester to deliver the first Active Neighbourhood as part of the Bee Network Programme. By prioritising people over cars and making it easier to walk and cycle in Levenshulme the project aims to create calmer, safer and more sociable streets.

Sustrans was commissioned to deliver a programme of community engagement and collaborative design activities to support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s first ‘fully filtered’ neighbourhood, as part of the wider Active Neighbourhood vision. The Filtered Neighbourhood is just one project area within the Active Neighbourhood Scheme, with other areas such as new and improved crossings and cycle infrastructure being provided by MCC.

This report outlines the findings which advocate for a filtered neighbourhood (FN) trial in Levenshulme and the process for creating the filter plan with the local community. It is not intended to summarise the wider Active Neighbourhood project.

Introduction

The benefits of a filtered neighbourhood

Combined with streetscape

improvements, they can boost high streets and local town centres.

Walking and cycling improvements can

increase retail spend by up to 30%1.

What is a filtered neighbourhood?

Measures which block through-routes for vehicles, while allowing journeys on foot or by bike and occasionally by bus to continue. These can include bollards, gates, planters, opposing one way streets, restricted turns, bus gates, school streets and width restrictions. A filter is not required on every street for the whole neighbourhood to become filtered. Residents and visitors can still access all properties by car, and emergency services will still have access.

A filtered neighbourhood creates barriers to cars on residential streets within a neighbourhood, preventing ‘rat running’ but still allowing residents access to their homes. Direct access is maintained and enhanced for people walking and cycling, improving the appeal of those types of journeys.

What is a modal filter?

The filtered neighbourhood scheme in Waltham Forest led to the removal of 44% of traffic on residential

streets. This led to significant improvements in air quality and peoples’

health1.

People living in existing filtered neighbourhoods

are becoming more physically active,

spending an extra 32 minutes walking, or 9 minutes cycling per

week2.

1 Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign. Available at https://wfcycling.wordpress.com/mini-holland/evidence/ 2 Alrdred et al. (2018) Impacts of an active travel intervention with a cycling focus in a suburban context: One-year findings from an evaluation of London’s in-progress mini-Hollands programme. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856417314866

How we have worked with the local community

Initially there was the ‘Listening Phase’ where the project team ran an online and face to face community engagement to identify the issues people face in the area.

Then there was the ‘Solutions Phase’ where we asked the community how they would like to see these issues solved.

Community events and pop ups were run to see if a filtered neighbourhood might be benefitial in the area and gather local knowledge as part of the design process if this was the case.

The aim was to gain insight and understanding of issues and develop and design locally-led solutions. Below is a list of events that helped form the design for the trial. There have been around 70 active neighbourhood events in total since 2018.

An online perceptions mapping tool to measure how respondents felt about the area and what improvements could be made to encourage them to walk and cycle more was launched via Commonplace on 20th October 2019. https://levenshulmebeenetworkmap.commonplace.is/

The “Tell Us About Your Street” (TUAYS) survey was sent to all 9000 households in the project area in October 2019. This could also be completed online.

To engage with those in the community who may not have completed the postal or online surveys.

As above

As above

Levenshulme Youth Forum meeting

To engage with those in the community who may not have completed the postal or online surveys.

Co-design workshop to explain the design process and ask the community how the roads and cells should be defined.

January 2020

DetailsEvent

Tesco pop up event

Inspire pop up event

Burnage Lane pop up

Levenshulme Old Library

Madina Mosque pop up

Inspire co-design event

Christ Church South Manchester Hands on Design Workshop

Arcadia hands on design workshop

Seddon Street active streets event/ co-design pop up

Burnage community forum

February 2020

Detailed Co-design workshop with the community

Detailed Co-design workshop with the community

To engage with residents in the extended project area to the North of Matthews Lane

Information session

https://levenshulmebeenetwork.commonplace.is/schemes/proposals/our-active-neighbourhood-vision-map/details





Who responded?

A ‘Tell us about your street’ survey was sent

to 9000 households. It was completed by 590 households. The

coverage of respondents within the area was

widespread with responses from 163

different streets.

919 comments were submitted on the

Commonplace map. 64.9% of the users who specified a connection

said that they live within the area.

Over 137 people attended the Co-Design

Event in January. 102 people attended in

February.

Those who responded on Commonplace had the option to leave demographic information. This was done to ensure that the consultation reached an accurate cross section of the Levenshulme filtered neighbourhood area population.

As the bar charts show below, Commonplace respondents reflect the area’s population cross section to a reasonable extent. This is based on the most recent Census data.

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 %

I live here

I work here

I study here

I live nearby

I own a business here

I do the school run here/ my children go to school here

I'm here for leisure/ do my shopping here

I commute through here

I'm just visiting

I'm part of a community group based here

Other (including ‘school’)

Of the 486 unique users who left comments on Commonplace, 328 specified what their connection was to the area. 64.9% of the users who specified a connection said that they ‘live within the area’. Besides living within the area, the most common connections to the area were ‘I study here’ (24.7%) and ‘I live nearby’ (11.9%).

0

25

50

75

100% 2011 Census Commonplace Map

0

25

50

75

100% Mid-2018 LSOA Commonplace Map

Asian or

Asian Brit

ish

Black or

Black British

Mixed

Other

White

0

25

50

75

100% 2011 Census Commonplace Map

0

25

50

75

100% Mid-2018 LSOA Commonplace Map

Asian or

Asian Brit

ish

Black or

Black British

MixedOth

erWhite

What is your connection the the area? (Commonplace respondents)

Age (Commonplace respondents) Ethicity (Commonplace respondents)

How did we improve representation?

Sustrans ran 5 pop-up events to reach a wider audience and improve representation, which took place at Tesco, outside shops on Burnage Lane, at the Madina Mosque and at Inspire during the Computer Buddies session for over 50s and the Bread and Butter Bag collection, a further pop up took place on Seddon Street to engage with residents in the extended project area.

Sustrans spoke to over 150 people at the pop up events and gathered their comments.

590 households in the area returned the TUAYS Survey. As can be seen from the map below, the responses are widely spread across the area, with the majority of streets represented. The location which TUAYS surveys were returned from are shown as yellow envelopes.

The return rate in the northernmost part is low because this area was not included in the project boundary at the point that these surveys went out. It has since been included at the request of residents to take part in the Active Neighbourhood scheme.

Comments on Commonplace are also dispersed throughout the whole area, but tend to be more concentrated around larger roads.

Gathering responses across the whole area





Trialling the filtered neighbourhood

This is the first scheme of its kind to be delivered in Manchester. The project team is aware that changes to the neighbourhood will have a significant impact on journeys, whether by car, bike or by foot.

It is therefore essential that these ideas are trialled and tested before deciding whether to make them permanent. This way the community can feedback on what is working and what isn’t, and help us design any permanent filters in detail - for example what they will look like and where on the street they should be positioned.

This also means that measures can be put in sooner rather than later which can assist with social distancing guidelines in relation to Covid-19. Measures such as pavement widening can be lengthy to implement, but quieter roads will make it safer for pedestrians where they might need to use the road space for social distancing. The scheme will also reduce some of the perceived barriers to greenspaces, which are essential at this time for exercise and meeting with friends and family.

How we will continue to work with you

Gathering feedback on the trial

The trial will be undertaken using an experimental traffic regulation order which means that we can make changes following your feedback and monitor the impact for the first 6 months before the Council and Transport for Greater Manchester decide if the filters will be implemented on a permanent basis. All feedback from residents and monitoring of traffic, pedestrian and cycling levels as well as air quality levels will be considered before any of the filters are installed permanently.

The formal consultation will start once the trial is in place and there will be various ways to get in touch and give feedback. All houses and businesses within the proposed active neighbourhood area will receive postal information about the scheme. In addition, houses and businesses within 100m of a filter will have a chance to comment directly on the filters closest to their house. Feedback can be given at https://levenshulmebeenetwork.commonplace.is/schemes/proposals/our-active-neighbourhood-vision-map/details.

Why is a filtered neighbourhood being trialled?

As highlighted previously, the local community have had the opportunity to share their feelings about their neighbourhood through a number of platforms. The project team also undertook initial site visits to establish some understanding of the area. This section sets out these findings and the issues and concerns that the community have about the local area. It also identifies how these issues might be addressed through a filtered neighbourhood scheme and other supporting interventions.

Initial observations

Initial site visits by our designers highlighted that the neighbourhood suffers from severance with the railways and major roads forming physical divides. Primary site analysis comprised an Urban Design/Townscape study, route hierarchy analysis and identification of key issues across the neighbourhood, such as substandard road crossings, pavement parking, poorly lit areas and rat-running.

Car ownership

39% of households in the area do not own a car at all, despite initial observations highlighting high volumes of traffic on local streets. This is much higher than the UK average (25.3%) and the Greater Manchester average (32.6%). Filtered neighbourhoods help local streets to work better for those who don’t have access to a car, which correlates with the lower income areas in Levenshulme4.

No cars or vans

39.3% 44.6% 16.1%

32.1%25.8%

32.6% 42.7% 26.7%

42.2%

1 car or van 2 or more cars or vans

Road incident data

Initial analysis highlighted that there were 746 road traffic incidents within the FN area between January 2005 and June 20183. This includes 2 fatalities and 83 ‘serious’ incidents.

A higher number of road incidents occur along the major roads in the area, such as the A6 (Stockport Road) and Albert Road. Analysis also shows that the severity of these incidents correlates with road size and their strategic traffic function, with fatal and severe collisions more likely to occur on roads such as Stockport Road and Errwood Road. The filtered neighbourhood proposal should take these patterns into account to improve safety for all.

The strongest concentration of incidents have occurred along Stockport Road with significant hot-spots at the junction between Stockport Road and Albert Road. The roundabouts that make up the junctions between Moseley Road, Birchfields Road and the Kingsway are also shown to have a high concentration of incidents. This is also the case for Broom Lane, particularly where it meets Stockport Road. Hotspots also include smaller roads such as Cromwell Grove, Chapel Street and Clare Road.

3 Since this data only includes reported incidents it is likely to significantly underestimate the true level of road incidents in the area. The data shows a total of 746 incidents within or on a boundary road of the Filtered Neighbourhood. Each incident results in one or more ‘casualties’ where the severity ranges been ‘slight’, ‘serious’ and ‘fatal’.

4 There a strong link between car ownership and levels of deprivation within the Filtered Neighbourhood area. Parts of the area fall within the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country and this is reflected in low levels of car ownership. LSOA 34D which has the highest car ownership by household, is also least deprived LSOA within either the Burnage or Levenshulme wards.







Traffic data

Monitoring

Baseline traffic data was gathered in January 2020 to establish which roads and junctions experienced the highest traffic volumes. Monitoring will take place again during the trial to understand changes in traffic patterns.

Air quality will also be monitored. The location of monitors are shown on the map below.

Understanding the makeup of traffic

Vehicular movement data collected between January 2019 and December 2019 provides a clear insight into the nature of traffic within Levenshulme. The map below shows data to illustrate the division of journeys classed as either ‘through’ and ‘local’ at specific locations within the Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood area.

• A ‘Through’ journey is classed as a journey which did not start or end within the ‘Park Area’ in which it was recorded.

• A ‘Local’ journey is classed as one which either starts or ends within the park area, or takes place entirely within the park area itself.

For each point on the map, the pie chart

• Indicates the proportion of through traffic between 7am and 7pm.

• Is scaled according to the total amount of vehicular traffic on that given location over the same 12 hour period.

What you have told us about the area

When describing places in the area,

91% felt that it was important for that place to be served by healthy walking/

cycling routes.

34% of respondents felt that they were not very comfortable or not at all comfortable walking in the area.

Even fewer people felt comfortable cycling in the area, with 66% in total feeling not very or not at all comfortable.

Moving around the area

Traffic in the area

In both the Commonplace map and TUAYS surveys, issues relating to traffic were the primary cause for concern. The graphs below show the top 5 issues identified by the respondents of each survey.





The changes you told us you’d like to see

Issues relating to traffic were among the top responses when users were asked to identify their top areas for improvement within the Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood.

The three key issues raised relating to traffic were speeding drivers,

too much traffic and rat running.

Many of the roads which received the highest concentration of comments relating to traffic volume and speeds were residential streets like Millwain, Longden, Cringle Road and Highfield Road showing that traffic issues are not isolated to main roads like the A6, but that there are concerns around traffic on the smaller residential streets in the area also.

The roads with the highest numbers on the map have the highest concentration of comments.

Locating traffic-related concerns

When comments relating to speeding cars and traffic being too fast are combined and compared across all three survey platforms, there is a clear grouping of comments on Stockport Road, Errwood Road and Broom Lane. However, analysis also shows how there are many concerns relating to speeding also on the more residential and smaller roads.

Traffic calming and slowing down traffic were suggestions across all surveys and pop up events and workshops, with traffic calming requested on a large number of residential streets across the area. This is shown in the map adjacent.

Speeding drivers

‘Less traffic’ and ‘fewer polluting vehicles’ were suggestions by Commonplace respondents and those at the workshops and pop-up events. The map shows a distinct cluster of comments on the A6 but also on Errwood Road, Barlow Road, Marshall Road and Broom Avenue.

There were, however, suggestions for less traffic on many residential streets spread throughout the area, indicating that less traffic is an aspiration for smaller streets too and that action to tackle the volume of traffic is desired throughout the area.

Too much traffic





Most comments relating to rat-running are from residential streets which provide links between primary or secondary roads, for instance Millwain Road and Linden Park between Errwood Road and Slade Lane and therefore enable movement across the neighbourhood. Roads such as Scarisbrick Road also enable vehicles to avoid main roads (including their crossings and traffic lights which cause delays) altogether.

Mapping the comments shows that respondents feel that numerous roads within the area are subject to these driver behaviours. As with the other traffic issues highlighted, the residential streets which facilitate through traffic have been highlighted the most by respondents.

Rat running

More specific proposals for improvements by respondents to the TUAYS survey and Commonplace map included closing roads, modal filters and one-way roads. The map shows these suggestions to be fairly evenly distributed throughout the area, with a number of residents showing support for a modal filter or road closure on their street.

This highlights a wish for traffic-related interventions not just on key routes such as the A6, but on the smaller connecting residential streets also.

Specific measures for traffic calming

Solving the issues raised

In summary, the key traffic issues which have been identified by the local community are:

• Too much traffic

• Speeding drivers

• Rat running by people who don’t live in the neighbourhood

• Severance caused by traffic and poor crossing points

They can also reduce speeding. When drivers use roads as cut throughs, they are trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible. High volumes of non-local traffic means lots of drivers who don’t have an association with the area and therefore take less care in how they drive. Filters give pedestrians and cyclists priority whilst letting drivers in as guests, altering the hierarchy of users and helping to reduce inconsiderate driving behaviours. Filters also shorten the lengths of through routes, reducing the opportunity for drivers to build up speed. Other measures such as enforced speed limits may be required to deliver change in full.

Speeding

Rat running

Too much traffic

Filtered neighbourhoods stop rat running by ensuring residential streets can’t be used by through-traffic but remain accessible to residents, visitors and emergency services.

Modal filters can transform heavily trafficked roads into quieter roads which are easier to cross and become spaces for socialising. Moving through-journeys onto the key connector roads such as the A6 and Kingsway will reduce traffic levels on the smaller roads in the neighbourhood. Where roads will continue to be designated for through traffic, they can become less of a barrier through the installation of new and improved crossing points. Whilst this does not form part of the filtered neighbourhood plan, opportunities for improved crossing points will be highlighted where needed and recommendations shared with Manchester City Council.

Examples of how the trial filters might look





Co-designing the Filtered Neighbourhood with the community

Residents and stakeholders have participated in a series of engagement events, workshops and co-design activities to decide how routes in Levenshulme should be categorised, and the extent to which it should be filtered to through traffic.

Community Representatives Workshop and Drop-in Co-Design Event 29th Jan 2020

Members of the local community worked together to co-create a map which identified the streets that should be used by vehicles to travel through Levenshulme and those that should only be used for local motor vehicle trips.

We asked attendees to classify the streets in the study area in 3 categories:

• Red: strategic roads – traffic should mostly use these routes

• Blue: local connector roads – should remain an option for through traffic now, but could be filtered in the future

• No colour: residential street, for access only and not for through traffic

Street classification and cell definition

9 maps were produced by the groups and were overlaid to give a final indication of how the community wanted the roads and cells to be categorised. As shown in the image below, the groups had fairly similar ideas on this, with only some conflicting views.

Red routes

All groups agreed on the two red routes:

• A6 Stockport Road

• A34 Kingsway/ Birchfields

Blue routes

Consensus on:

• Cromwell Grove & Barlow Road

• Matthews Lane

Lack of consensus on whether these should be red or blue:

• A5079 Kingsway

• Albert Road

• Broom Lane

• Grangethorpe Road & Crossley Drive

Residential (filtered) streets

Consensus on:

• Barlow Road (north of Cromwell)

• Chapel Street

• Clare Road

Lack of consensus on whether these are blue or residential:

• Burnage Lane

• Errwood Road

• Alma Road vs Marshall Road

Following the street classification exercise, Sustrans engineers worked with MCC officers and the project team to determine the boundaries of the low traffic neighbourhood, i.e. the roads which would remain open to through traffic. The street classification had identified Kingsway and the A6 as obvious boundary roads, but the other ones in the area were more complex. During the street classification workshop, the following had been discussed as potential through routes: Crossley Road, Grangethorpe Road, Burnage Lane, Slade Lane, Errwood Road, Marshall Road, Alma Road, Albert Road, Broom Lane, Mount Road, Barlow Road, Cromwell Grove and Matthews Lane.

To decide whether to keep the above roads open to through traffic or not (i.e. to filter them) was then taken by the engineers working on the project, based on:

-Street classification (as identified in the community workshop)

-The presence of schools, parks and other community destinations

-Proximity to parallel strategic roads, and resulting FN size

The last point is particularly important: an FN which is too small will result in little mode shift or traffic evaporation. On the other hand, an FN which is too large will encourage driven trips within the area and create an excessive inconvenience to longer car journeys starting or ending in the area. Because of this, the size of FNs implemented across the country had been between 0.35 and 1.4 square kilometres.





Community Co-Design Workshops, 8th Feb 2020

Following the road classification and identification of the cell boundaries, Sustrans co-ordinated two community co-design workshops on 8th February. Participants took part in 3 activities during the 2.5 hour workshops:

• Modal filter location design (placing modal filters onto streets)

• Crossings and quick wins (improvements to walking/cycling movements across barriers and other interventions

• School street improvements (changes to the environment outside of schools)

Workshop attendees were asked to suggest locations for modal filters, bus gates, pocket parks (later to be called “fancy filters”), one-ways and banned turns.

During the workshop, the need to create a sense of place around the proposed filters was clear, by creating pocket-parks with greening and space for community uses. Key locations that would be particularly suitable for these “showcase” pocket parks which were identified included:

• Preston Road, at the junction with Errwood Road;

• Barlow Road (north), at the junction with Cromwell Grove and Barlow Road;

• Clare Road, in proximity of the railway crossing; and

• Manor Road, between Audley Road and Mount Road

Modal filter location

Crossings

Attendees supported MCC’s plans to review and improve crossings on the Albert Road/Slade Lane junction, Kingsway roundabout, Marshall Road/Albert Road Station entrance and Albert Road/A6 junction and additional crossing options near to Arcadia Leisure Centre and Library. They highlighted a need for more crossings at Levenshulme High on Errwood Road and on Broom Lane.

See the Levenshulme School Streets report for detailed summary of community feedback on the initial designs.

School streets

We will be monitoring the impact of the scheme on roads in the area and, if some suffer an unacceptable impact, we will be making adjustments to the scheme

Based on these outputs, on the conversations during the workshops and on our technical expertise, we drafted the cell plan below, which formed the basis of the subsequent workshops.

Based on the considerations above, the following decisions were made:

-Crossley Road and Grangethorpe Road retained as through routes, as the closest parallel strategic roads are Albert Road and Didsbury Road, 3.2km apart, which would create a 5.4 square kilometre FN

-Burnage Lane, Slade Lane, Errwood Road, Marshall Road and Alma Road to become access-only for private vehicles (open people walking, cycling and buses) as there are quite a few schools and the parallel routes (A6 and Kingsway) are only 1km apart, creating a 1 sq. km FN

-Albert Road retained as through route given the lack of more appropriate parallel east-west traffic routes

-Broom Lane and Mount Road retained as through route given the closest parallel routes are the A6 and the B6167, which are 2.2km apart, which would create a 6.3 sq. km FN

-Barlow Road, Cromwell Grove and Matthews Lane retained as through routes, given the closest east-west route (Stanley Grove) is 2.2km from the A6 / Broom Lane junction, creating a 1.7 sq km FN


Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 202021

The brief from the Community

Design Principle Further recommendations to meet the briefMeeting the principle with the designIssues and solutions highlighted

Where active travel is the natural choice

91% of responses (Commonplace Perception survey) stated that it was important to be served by healthy walking and cycling routes.

59.5% of people highlighted traffic issues including speed, volume and rat-running via Commonplace and the Tell Us About Your Street Survey.

• Reducing through traffic will make the neighbourhood

feel safer and more pleasant for walking and cycling

• The size of the active neighbourhood has been

chosen due to its walkable distance for most people

• Less through traffic means less congestion through

the neighbourhood so that more buses can run on

time

• Convenient cycle parking facilities as will make

cycling a more viable option

• Project area 4 - secure bike parking, bike car ports and cycle hub

• Segregated cycle infrastructure on strategic roads

• Pavement improvements

• Accessibility issues to train station

• School streets timed closures and street design improvements will facilitate more journeys to school by active travel

1.

An accessible neighbourhood for all

Places not accessible for all - see full report for specifics.

On Commonplace, there were 179 comments relating to places not being accessible for everyone. These included parks, places on the high street and the train station.

Requests were made for these places, as well as many others, for dropped kerbs, wider pavements, places to sit and step-free access to address these issues of accessibility.

• Potential for seating as part of the filter proposals/

pocket parks

• A lower trafficked neighbourhood is by nature more

accessible to pedestrians

• Whilst some inconvenience will be caused for drivers

rat running, those who live there will still be able to

park outside the homes. They will just have more

choice in how they make their short journeys

• New and improved crossings/continuous footways to be developed by MCC

• Identify additional seating and shelter needed for those with restricted mobility that need rest points to enable walking as mode of travel

• Pavement improvements

• Removal of street clutter building on LBN advocates street clutter survey

• FLoop improvement project in pipeline to enhance the user experience, improve entrances and make the path more accessible to users.

• Improve accessibility of the train station.

2.

The findings from the engagement process, through workshops and online platforms, have come together to frame a ‘design brief from the community’ which has driven design decisions around cell creation, filter location and

types and where crossings are required to make key connections across Levenshulme.

Brief from the community

Findings from the community have led to the creation of 5 design principles which have guided the filtered neighbourhood design layout:

Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020


23

Design Principle Further recommendations to meet the briefMeeting the principle with the designIssues and solutions highlighted

A connected place

Original aim of the active neighbourhood programme - to reduce severance

66% of Commonplace map respondents do not feel comfortable cycling in the area

There were 72 comments on Commonplace saying that places were hard to get to, highlighting the prevalence of poor connectivity as an issue in Levenshulme. This was supported by 179 comments highlighting places that are not accessible for everyone.

• Crossings key to reducing severance at cell

boundaries Cells will not be separated- reduction in

traffic will minimise severance between cells

• Neighbours will have more opportunity to talk to one

another in quieter streets and more children can play

out

• Crossings developed by MCC

• Improving existing modal filter “cut throughs”, as shown in figure x, will increase the impact of the filtered neighbourhood

4.

Distinctly Levenshulme

High levels of attendance at meetings and workshops (over 100 at drop in). 7% households return to the Tell Us About Your Street survey plus 486 unique users engaging with the Commonplace map with over 900 comments made.

Local advocates keen to actively support the project.

• Designs respond to the issues and solutions raised

by the community

• Ranges of opportunity for the community to shape

the filtered neighbourhood designs

• Fancy filter co-design

• Children to design artwork for school streets programme

• Use of local artists for school streets artwork and filter design

• Activation around filters to transform use and function of the new public realm

5.

A green and attractive place to live

More greenery was the 2nd highest priority for improvement in the Tell Us About Your Street survey

• Greenery can be delivered through fancy filters but

detail is still to be confirmed.

• The design will assist in making perceptions of the

area greener by reducing severance by roads to

parks and to the Floop.

• Children to design artwork for School street design improvements

• Additional parklets

• Develop green walking and cycling routes to connect greenspaces and key locations

3.

Choosing a design option

This Filtered Neighbourhood Proposal Map presents the design that was considered by the Levenshulme Active Neighbourhood Project Team to most effectively achieve the project aims and respond to the brief from the community that emerged from the engagement. This design option best responds to the roads on which there are the most traffic concerns and importantly will also stop through traffic running past the schools in the area. Whilst not all the roads within a cell have a filter on them directly, this neighbourhood-wide filter plan results in all roads within a cell being impermeable to through traffic. The planned trial this Summer will test the design for a Levenshulme filtered neighbourhood and provide opportunity for local people to feedback on the proposal and for adaptations to be made to the design.


25

F A N C Y F IL T E R

Thes e enha nc ed f il t er s a r e

bes t pla c ed a t impor t a nt

wa lk ing a nd c yc l ing r out es

in t he neighbour hood f or

t he mos t people t o enjoy.

(nea r s c hools a nd pa r k s )

A ddit iona l " f a nc y" f ea t ur es

c a n inc lude t hings l ik e

s ea t ing, t r ees , pla nt s ,

s c ulpt ur e, a r t wor k , pla y or

exer c is e equipment a nd of

c our s e, bik e pa r k ing.

S IM P L E F IL T E R

This is wha t we'r e c a l l ing a

wel l pla c ed, low c os t a nd

low ma int ena nc e moda l

f il t er . W e'l l us e t hings l ik e

pla nt er s , bol la r ds , s imple

pa vement build out s ,

t r ees , bik e pa r k ing a nd

s igna ge. They a r e pr a c t ic a l

a nd ea s y t o ins t a l l .

DIA G O N A L F IL T E R

Thes e a r e des igned f or f our

a r m junc t ions . ( s ee G or don

A ve/D ela mer e R d f or a

good loc a l exa mple of wha t

a f our a r m junc t ion is ) The

a im is t o diver t t r a f f ic wit h

dia gona l pla c ement of

t hings . I t mea ns t ha t

vehic les would no longer be

a ble t o dr ive a c r os s t his

junc t ion ea s t t o wes t or

wes t t o ea s t .

B U S F R IE N DL Y M O DA LF IL T E R

S omet imes c a l led a bus

ga t e, l ik e t he moda l f il t er it

pr event s c a r s , va ns a nd

ot her vehic les but a l lows

bus es , a s wel l a s wa lk ing

a nd c yc l ing, t o c a r r y on

s t r a ight t hr ough. I t is

us ua l ly c a mer a enf or c ed t o

ma k e s ur e it wor k s .

T E M P O R A R Y F IL T E R

Thes e a r e a da pt a ble a nd

not f ixed in pos it ion. They

us es only objec t s whic h a r e

a ble t o be moved a nd

t wea k ed a s pa r t of a t r ia l

s c heme or in a n emer genc y

r es pons e.

P E R M A N E N T F IL T E R

This is when we build

inf r a s t r uc t ur e " s pa des in

t he gr ound" t o

f unda ment a l ly c ha nge t he

f low of t r a f f ic a nd des ign

of t he s t r eet us ing one of

our moda l f il t er opt ions . A

per ma nent s olut ion t ha t

wil l f or m pa r t of a net wor k

of wel l pla c ed f il t er s .

JARGON BUSTER




































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Garden

West Point

Primary School

Chapel Street

Park

Old Library

Chapel Street

Levenshulme

Greenbank

Playing Fields

Greenbank

Park

St Andrew Church

of England

Primary School

Arcadia

Leisure & Library

Mou

nt R

oad

Mount R

oad

Barlow Road

Longden Road

Matthews Lane

Sto

vell

Ave

Hem

mo

ns R

oad

Guildford Road

Dunstable Street

Audley R

oad

Portville Road

Manor Road

Osborne Rd

Kingsway

Sla

de

Lane

Slade Lane

Osborne Road

Victoria Road

Lytham Road

Green Drive

Collingwood Road

Bur

nag

e La

ne

Slad

e Lane

Sla

de

Lane

Linden Park

Milwain Road

Monica Grove

Marshall R

oad

Grange Avenue

Cringle Road

Cringle Road

Bro

om

Lan

e

Broom Lane

Chapel Street

Barlow Road

Bro

om L

ane

Crayfield Road

Clare Road

Delamere Road

Langdale Avenue

Dorset Road

Mol

yneu

x R

oad

Chapel Street

Rad

cliff

e S

tree

t

Broom Avenue

Cromwell Grove

Cromwell Grove

Albert Road

Moseley Road

Manor Road

Guildford Road

Alma Road

Langdale Avenue

Alm

a R

oad

Northm

oor Road

Fortuna Grove

Err

woo

d R

oad

Burnage Hall Road

Go

rdo

n Avenue

Temporary Bus-Friendly Filter

Legend

Temporary Filter

The Bee With No Name

School

Filtered Neighbourhood Area

Place of Worship

A6 Stockport Road

Tra�c Direction Changes

Contains OS data © Crown Copyright and database right 20190 0.13 0.25 0.5 Kilometers

Filtered NeighbourhoodTrial Map

The design for the trial

At the very first stage of the trial temporary traffic management equipment (rhino barriers and signs) will be used to form the temporary filters. This will allow changes to be made to filters if needed before the main trial filters are installed. The trial modal filters will take the form of a number of large wooden planters with either trees or plants in them, these will be placed on the road at either side of a drop down bollard. This design is simple and adaptable allowing the filters to be used in many different locations and road widths.

At the end of the trial period, a permanent design for each modal filter will be produced. These will in the majority of cases have some form of tree pit to replace the planters and the bollard will remain. There may be specific locations where a more complex permanent filter is provided, which will be designed using feedback received from the local community.

Three bus friendly modal filters will operate 24/7 during the trial. These let buses through without letting other motorised vehicles cut through and are key in reducing local levels of motor traffic, improving road safety, air quality and bus journey times.. All addresses around these filters can still be accessed.

Based on discussions with the community and project team to date, the below is currently proposed for the filtered neighbourhood design, but this is of course subject to feedback during the trial. The ‘fancy filters’ in particular will be designed with the community to determine whether they will include greenery, seating or other features. Feedback can be given on Commonplace.


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Details to support the wider active neighbourhood

Active travel connectivity

The aspiration to achieve a direct, clear, cross-Levenshulme walking and cycling network involves tackling the further barriers to active travel connectivity once the filtered neighbourhood and crossings plans are implemented. We have made additional recommendations which can support the success of this project, but these will not form part of the FN trial:

Liveable neighbourhood

In addition to responses around traffic and active travel, the community also raised other ideas on Commonplace for how the neighbourhood could be more liveable; more attractive and welcoming. These included better lighting, street furniture and more artwork, amongst other ideas. Whilst these ideas can’t be delivered specifically by the filtered neighbourhood plan, they will all be recommended as part of the wider Active Neighbourhood scheme.

School Streets

Design proposals have been produced for the streets outside 6 primary schools included in the Levenshulme School Streets project. See the Levenshulme School Streets Report for the proposals and methodology.

The Impact of the Proposed Filtered Neighbourhood Trial on Schools

The introduction of modal filters on the streets close to schools will:

• Reducing through traffic and rat running along school streets

• Encouraging parents to choose active travel for the school run because walking and cycling is made more desirable due to lower traffic levels on residential and school streets

The proposed filters still allow parents to park outside the school at pick up and drop up times, which has been highlighted as a concern by pupils, parents, school staff and local residents.Therefore school street timed closures are recommended to run alongside the introduction of the modal filters to create a safe and pleasant environment outside of school. Sustrans is working with Levenshulme Primary Schools to look at one day trials as an opportunity to gather feedback from local residents and the schools.

• Opening up cut throughs identified by the community for walking and cycling

• Segregated cycling lanes on cell boundaries where feasible

• Traffic lights or parallel crossings for bicycles

• Wayfinding to key destinations on foot and cycle

• Removal of unnecessary barriers such as A-frames

• Step-free access to parks

• Wider pavements

• Removal of footway parking

Crossings

By cross referencing locations identified with the local community for new or improved crossings with collision analysis map and with the traffic data analysis, we have identified key locations to be prioritised for potential improvements. The collision data map aligns with the prioritisation by local residents.The proposed locations for crossings are set out in this map.

The recommendations for new and improved crossings that have come out of the engagement and design process so far are now being reviewed by Manchester City Council Highways team. It is important that, whilst cell boundaries remain open to through traffic, they are not barriers to people-powered movement.

Whilst this is key to the delivery of an active neighbourhood, new and improved crossings are being developed by MCC and do not form part of the planned FN trial. Findings from the trial will however provide more information about where crossings should best be located and which ones should be prioritised to help people move safely and comfortably about the area.

Garden

West Point

Primary School

Chapel Street

Park

Old Library

Chapel Street

Levenshulme

Greenbank

Playing Fields

Greenbank

Park

St Andrew Church

of England

Primary School

Arcadia

Leisure & Library

Mou

nt R

oad

Mount R

oad

Barlow Road

Longden Road

Matthews Lane

Sto

vell

Ave

Hem

mo

ns R

oad

Guildford Road

Dunstable Street

Audley R

oad

Portville Road

Manor Road

Osborne Rd

Kingsway

Sla

de

Lane

Slade Lane

Osborne Road

Victoria Road

Lytham Road

Green Drive

Collingwood Road

Bur

nag

e La

ne

Slad

e Lane

Sla

de

Lane

Linden Park

Milwain Road

Monica Grove

Marshall R

oad

Grange Avenue

Cringle Road

Cringle Road

Bro

om

Lan

e

Broom Lane

Chapel Street

Barlow Road

Bro

om L

ane

Crayfield Road

Clare Road

Delamere Road

Langdale Avenue

Dorset Road

Mol

yneu

x R

oad

Chapel Street

Rad

cliff

e S

tree

t

Broom Avenue

Cromwell Grove

Cromwell Grove

Albert Road

Moseley Road

Manor Road

Guildford Road

Alma Road

Langdale Avenue

Alm

a R

oad

Northm

oor Road

Fortuna Grove

Err

woo

d R

oad

Burnage Hall Road

Go

rdo

n Avenue

Key

The Bee With No Name

Proposed Crossing and Improvement of Existing Crosssing

School

Filtered Neighbourhood Area

Place of Worship

Park

Bee Network

School Street Timed Filter (resident access)

A6 Stockport Road

Tra�c Direction Changes

Proposed Crossing

Existing Crossing RequiringImprovement

Contains OS data © Crown Copyright and database right 2019

0 0.13 0.25 0.5 Kilometers

Filtered NeighbourhoodCrossings ProposalsLevenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood





Summary and conclusions

This report has summarised the evidence base for a filtered neighbourhood trial in Levenshulme, and highlights the importance of trialling the resulting recommendations before any permanent changes are delivered in the area.

Sustrans was commissioned to deliver a programme of community engagement and collaborative design activities to support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s first ‘fully filtered’ neighbourhood, as part of the wider Active Neighbourhood vision.

Initial analysis highlighted issues of high traffic volumes and speed and severance by major roads despite lower than average car ownership in the area overall. Further traffic analysis showed that there is a high level of through-traffic which occurs not only on major roads but on smaller residential streets too.

Through postal, online and face to face engagement, key findings included:

• 91% of respondents (Commonplace perceptions Map) felt that it was important for places within the area to be served by healthy walking/cycling routes

• 59.5% highlighted traffic issues including speed, volume and rat running across all surveys.

• 34% don’t feel comfortable walking in the area (Commonplace perceptions Map)

• 66% don’t feel comfortable cycling in the area (Commonplace perceptions Map)

• 179 comments on Commonplace highlighting places with poor access, along with 72 comments that places are hard to get to

• More greenery was the second highest priority for improvement

This report has set out how these issues can be addressed through the delivery of a filtered neighbourhood and where additional improvements are needed to meet the aspirations of the local community. This comprises recommendations for modal filters, greenery, new and improved crossings, school street closures and accessibility measures..

This report concludes that whilst in principle a filtered neighbourhood can address the concerns and aspirations of local people it is essential to trial these measures and offer an opportunity for the community to feedback before any permanent changes are made. A trial provides an effective test of the findings of this report and would provide an opportunity to further improve the proposed design based on the community’s feedback on the trial.

The next steps

Using the information and outline design from Sustrans, Manchester City Council will look to work with local residents to develop a solution that can be trialled.

The trial will be done using an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) which can be in place for up to 18 months before being made permanent or removed. This approach means that some changes can be made as part of the trial without needing to get a new ETRO.

We anticipate that the trial will be for 6 months and in that time we will look at all of the feedback from residents as well as monitoring information before a decision is made to keep the filters.

As well as working on the locations of filters, if residents are happy with their locations, the next stage will be to work with them on the final designs, giving residents the opportunity to be involved in designing the filters on their street.

If there is agreement to proceed with the filtered neighbourhood, then Manchester City Council will be required to submit a business case to the Mayor's Challenge Fund to release funding to cover the cost of installing the permanent filters, plus any other work planned to help create the Active Neighbourhood.

Other elements of the Active Neighbourhood include improving junctions and crossings to make them safer for walking and cycling. A separate piece of work is underway to use the information collated from early engagement to try and prioritise where these improvements can be made, so that this can be included in the business case we submit to the Mayor's Challenge Fund.

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