Local Street Improvements programme in Surrey

‘Local Street Improvements' are being planned across Surrey in defined areas to ensure streets recognise their importance as places for people, and not just their importance for the movement of vehicles. Over 250 potential Local Streets Improvements zones have been identified across Surrey. Local Street Improvements are important to help deliver on the objectives of Surrey’s current Local Transport Plan, specifically the active travel, personal mobility and planning for place policy areas.

Surrey's Local Street Improvements programme aims to create safer, healthier and more attractive places, which include appropriate vehicle speed limits and improved facilities for walking, wheeling and riding. Currently, work is focusing only on improvements within public highway spaces, for which Surrey County Council (SCC) is the Highway and Traffic Authority. 

Key characteristics of Local Street Improvements include: 

• Creating more attractive local environments and more welcoming neighbourhoods that people want to spend time in, and that local residents take pride in; 
• Increasing the comfort, safety and accessibility of walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure;
• Creating spaces in street environments for community facilities that can be enjoyed by all, such as outdoor seating, pocket parks, and play spaces; and
• Reducing the dominance of cars and goods vehicles resulting in healthier streets with improved safety, reduced emissions, air quality and noise pollution, and more walking, wheeling, riding and social interactions. 

Potential interventions to improve local streets

A number of measures could be introduced to improve local streets in a neighbourhood, where these are supported by local stakeholders. Examples include (not a definitive list):

• 20mph speed limits, where appropriate.
• Traffic calming measures such as speed bumps.
• New and improved crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Widening pavements/footways and improving their surface and overall quality. 
• Continuous footways across side roads which give priority to pedestrians. 
• More greenery including the planting of more trees.
• Installing sustainable urban drainage systems like rain gardens. 
• Providing more seating including space outside of restaurants and shops.
• Improving bus stops. 
• Improving cycle parking and infrastructure. 
• Traffic management measures such as one-way streets, banned turns and modal filters.

Please view the PDF document below to see examples of the all the potential types of interventions listed above

West Sunbury Local Streets Improvements

As part of the first tranche of Local Streets Improvements schemes being taken forward in Surrey, a zone has been identified in the West Sunbury area (including Cedar Way, Mill Farm Avenue and Percy Bryant Road). A bid for further funding will be necessary for construction. 

We are engaging with local stakeholders to find out what the key local transport issues are in the area and what could be changed to improve the streets in West Sunbury. The findings of this engagement stage will help shape our initial proposals. Two further rounds of engagement and consultation will also take place later in the design programme to ensure plans are developed that local stakeholders want and support.

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Click Next below to learn about how Local Street Improvements will benefit West Sunbury.

How will Local Street Improvements benefit West Sunbury?

Safety benefits

Local Street Improvements can provide safer environments for walking, wheeling and riding due to more appropriate traffic speeds and better infrastructure, resulting in less accidents. They also provide improved road crossings to make it easier for everyone to cross the road, especially children and more vulnerable road users. 

Figures from the Department for Transport for 2022 reveal that Surrey had more cycling casualties in 2022 than any other Local Authority in Great Britain. The vast majority of cyclist casualties in Surrey (69%) took place on 30 mile per hour speed limit roads. 79% of these resulted from collisions with a motor vehicle. This is a problem for all forms of cycling in Surrey, including cycling to school and work. 71% of cycling casualties in Surrey occurred on a weekday. Less than a third happened at the weekend (29%).

For people walking, 81% of pedestrian casualties in Surrey occurred on 30 mile per hour speed limit roads, most resulting from collisions with motor vehicles in urban areas.

A Government review of examples from around England found that making traffic speeds more appropriate to local contexts leads to reduced accidents, both in severity of accidents when they do occur and in the number of accidents that happen. By setting more appropriate speed limits on urban roads (where people support them, and not using a blanket approach), Local Street Improvements can improve road safety and help to reduce pedestrian and cyclist casualties. Local Street Improvements can also reduce casualties by improving crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists to make crossings easier and safer to navigate as well as more visible to those driving.

To find out more about road safety in Surrey and other plans to make roads in Surrey safer, please see the road safety section of our website. To find out about other ways we are supporting walking, wheeling and riding to school, please see our Sustainable Modes of Travel to School Strategy.

Benefits for the local environment

By improving road safety and the conditions for walking, wheeling and riding, Local Street Improvements can enable more journeys to be made by sustainable transport modes. More walking, wheeling and riding means fewer journeys made by motor vehicles, resulting in less carbon emissions, reduced traffic noise outside people’s homes, improved air quality from less traffic pollution, and less congestion. Our website provides more information on the emissions caused by different transport modes.

Local Street Improvements also aim to increase the number of green spaces and trees in West Sunbury. This will help to provide protection from heavy rain and shelter in hot weather, as well as helping to improve local air quality. This is particularly important because Spelthorne has been designated as an Air Quality Management Area, meaning that air pollution levels have exceeded national standards. To find out more about air quality in Spelthorne, please visit the Spelthorne Borough Council website.

By helping to improve the local environment in West Sunbury, Local Street Improvements will contribute towards achieving the council’s objectives set out in our Local Transport Plan and our Climate Change Strategy, as well as supporting national objectives set out by the Department for Transport.

Benefits for local people's health and wellbeing

By making walking, wheeling and riding easier and safer, and by making local green spaces more accessible, Local Street Improvements will increase opportunities for physical activity and leisure in West Sunbury. Local Street Improvements will make West Sunbury a more attractive and enjoyable place for walking, wheeling and riding. Public Health England and the Department for Transport have investigated the benefits of increased movement to people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, and the role that increasing road safety and opportunities for walking, wheeling and riding have in achieving this. Increased walking and cycling have been shown to decrease rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, depression, cognitive decline and dementia, as well as increase life expectancy.

Increasing the number of journeys that are made by walking, wheeling and riding can also result in less air pollution as fewer journeys are made by motor vehicles. This makes the air that we breathe cleaner.

Studies by Public Health England show that access to green space can also greatly improve both physical and mental health outcomes, including mortality, stroke, coronary heart disease, maternal outcomes, stress, cognitive function and quality of life. We want West Sunbury to be a great place for people of all ages to live, work and play. Through improving access to local green spaces and providing new greenery through tree planting and rain gardens, Local Street Improvements can contribute towards improved physical and mental health and wellbeing.

To find out about other ways we are helping people to increase their physical activity in Surrey, please see the Active Surrey website.

Benefits for the local economy

Congestion has economic costs. It makes the economy less productive as time is lost to traffic jams for workers and suppliers. By enabling more local journeys to be made by walking, wheeling and riding, Local Street Improvements can help to reduce the number of local journeys made by motor vehicles in West Sunbury, helping to reduce congestion in the area. If more people feel safe walking, wheeling and riding local journeys like their journey to school, congestion will improve.

The Department for Transport also recognise the economic benefits of walking, wheeling and riding in regards to public health. Their review of small-scale, local walking and cycling schemes shows that these schemes represent ‘very-high’ value for money, with increased physical activity, improved road safety and less road traffic accidents enabling economic savings from improved public health outcomes.  

The Department for Transport outline some of the key economic benefits of walking, wheeling and riding for both individuals and local communities: ‘For people, it means cheaper travel and better health. For businesses, it means increased productivity and increased footfall in shops. And for society as a whole it means lower congestion, better air quality, and vibrant, attractive places and communities.’