Reigate and Banstead Borough Council formally adopted our A23 Great Street Design Code at the Council Executive meeting last night.
The Design Code is one of DLUHC’s pathfinder projects intended to test how Design Codes can deliver positive design outcomes. The Code aligns with the Healthy Streets Design Guide prepared by Surrey County Council and Urban Initiatives worked closely with transport and public realm experts Urban Movement through its preparation.
The Design Code is focused on delivering a co-ordinated response to the design of development along a stretch of the A23 extending from Redhill in the north, to Horley in the south, a distance of approximately 10 km. The Code now becomes a material consideration in determining planning applications within this area.
The route passes through a variety of different environments – the urban heart of Redhill town centre, the more mixed-use approaches into the town centre, the smaller settlements at Earlswood and Salfords, the wooded Earlswood Common and open agricultural fields south of Salfords and the suburban edge of Horley town centre.
Whilst the road provides an important strategic movement function for cars and other vehicles, it provides a poor environment for pedestrians and cyclists. Footways are often sub-standard, traffic speeds are high and the provision for cyclists is mixed with dedicated provision on parts of the route but disappearing at critical locations. In places the road is hard to cross, severing communities from facilities and open spaces which are located across the other side.
The Code was developed collaboratively, working closely with our client Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, with numerous local stakeholders and members of the public. Its objective is to transform a disjointed and highway dominated road corridor into a Great Street that is safe and easy to cross, beautiful to move along and that is punctuated by attractive settlements that are inviting to visit and spend time.
The Design Code identifies significant development opportunity and sets parameter based rules for how sites should be brought forward along the corridor. A particular aim of the Code is to make active travel a more attractive choice: a bi-directional segregated cycle route and significant urban greening is promoted along the length of the route.