‘Community Corners’ guidance relaunched amid Covid-19

Road safety practitioners with tight budgets are being pointed towards a guide which will help them deliver a community led, street furniture based, traffic calming project known as ‘Community Corners’.

The practitioner’s guide – produced by Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) and funded by the Road Safety Trust (RST) – gives ‘high level step by step’ guidance on the practicalities of delivering a Community Corners scheme.

First published in 2019, the guide is being relaunched in light of the Covid-19 pandemic – and the resulting interest in active travel and traffic calming.

Community Corners involves the use of street furniture such as planters, picnic benches and painting patterns to change the ‘feel’ of a residential street – from one of a highway designed primarily for cars, to an environment shared by road users and a ‘community where families live, children play and people move around and socialise’.

The planters can also be used to create barriers to the line of sight of drivers as well as physical obstructions which narrow the road, thus encouraging drivers to slow down.

The new guide explains that permission for any Community Corners scheme must be sought from the Local Highway Authority ‘who is responsible for what can and cannot be placed on local residential roads’.

It goes on to outline potential sources of funding for schemes; how to recruit streets to participate; designing campaign materials, including a flyer to spread the word and and a nomination form to enable residents to put their street forward; the shortlisting process; installation and evaluation of a scheme; and challenges and timescales when implementing a Community Corners scheme.

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