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New cycle lanes and wider pavements: ‘pop-ups’ for Sidmouth

  • by JW

“As an act of tactical urbanism it would be interesting and simple to chalk a 2.5m wide footpath width down the whole of High and Fore Street to see what is the minimum spatial allowance looks like.”

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Devon’s head of highways, Cllr Stuart Hughes, wants to “embed some of the greener, healthier travel habits we’ve seen during the lockdown”:

Pop-up areas for walkers and cyclists could be on the cards in Devon | sidmouthherald.co.uk

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And, indeed, Devon is making moves for ‘pop-up’ bike lanes and pavements:

New cycle lanes and wider pavements: priorities and funding

New cycle lanes and wider pavements: ‘pop-ups’ for Devon

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Sidmouth’s town council chair, Cllr Ian Barlow has said this is a priority:

“We’re working hard to provide larger pedestrian areas to make social distancing easier. Sidmouth county councillor Stuart Hughes is working on this as we speak.”

Strategies to open up Sidmouth

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There will be fears from many town-centre businesses that this would reduce footfall:

New cycle lanes and wider pavements: the problems

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However, with minimal planning and even less funding, some ‘quick fixes’ are possible – that should satisfy most people:

Tactical urbanism in a time of coronavirus

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And so, a correspondent to these pages has sent the following:

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Without a vaccine it looks like we are dependant on social distancing for some time to come, i.e. 2 metres by current Government dictact.

This means Sidmouth town centre is currently by law an unsafe environment for pedestrians, – see attached entrance to High Street map.

The red line on the west side indicates a distance of 2m from the church wall which is the minimum recommended pavement width, (leaving c3m for traffic.)

To accommodate the social distancing we would need c2.5 metres on both sides of the road (or introduce an unlikely one-way system for pedestrians on both sides).

As an act of tactical urbanism it would be interesting and simple to chalk a 2.5m wide footpath width down the whole of High and Fore Street to see what is the minimum spatial allowance looks like.

Yesterday for the first time I wore a mask on a visit to the Coop. I think it makes sense in restricted enclosed spaces but it does rather give you a false sense of security.

We should remember, masks are for protecting others from your germs which is why the Japanese wear them when they have a cold.

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See also:

Strategies to open up Sidmouth