Background
In 2020, we introduced temporary changes to road layouts to make it easier and safer for those walking, wheeling or cycling.
The changes aimed to
- encourage more people to switch to sustainable ways to travel
- make it more pleasant, easier and safer for people to explore their local area
- support high street and city centre businesses by providing more space for people
- improve road safety
- improve our health and well-being
- reduce carbon dioxide emissions, to help the city achieve its net zero carbon aims by 2030.
Councillors on the Transport and Environment Committee agreed to undertake a trial of the measures introduced to see how they would work once traffic had returned to normal levels. Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) were subsequently made in November 2022 for most of the schemes and have since been retained.
Existing schemes around schools are currently being considered under the citywide school travel plan review. They are not included in the travelling safely programme.
The statutory process for ETROs requires a six month consultation period during the initial stages of the trial. This consultation ended in May 2023. However during the consultation period, we became aware of mistakes in the published ETRO documents which meant that they needed to be re-advertised before any formal consideration is given to the representations made.