Cycle planning and design guidelines

Shropshire

Shropshire Council is keen to ensure that highway schemes and new developments provide the best quality infrastructure to encourage more walking and cycling.

Shropshire Council does not currently produce its own cycle design guidelines, but it does provide advice for developers on Travel Plans and cycle parking, see attached document 'Travel Plan Guidance', and preferred specifications for cycle track design within the recent mobility guidance document, follow link to 'Mobility guidance for Shropshire'.

There is also detailed guidance on layouts of residential/industrial estate roads, follow link to 'Housing and industrial estate roads'.

Shrewsbury: cycling town

In June 2008 Shrewsbury was designated by Cycling England/Department for Transport (DfT) as a ‘cycling town’. To find out more about the cycling town scheme please follow the link to the Cycle Shrewsbury website.

New walking and cycling routes in Shrewsbury town centre, forming part of the ‘Connect2 core network’ (part-funded by Sustrans/ Big Lottery), will need to be designed in accordance with Sustrans Connect2 Greenway Design Guide or the NCN Guidelines, follow link to 'Sustrans guidelines - NCN routes and Connect2', or the London Cycle Design Standards, follow link to 'London cycle design standards'. For more details of the Greenway Guide, please contact us.

Planning a new scheme?

Cycling England produce a useful checklist to be used at the early stages of projects to ensure that they consider the needs of cyclists. Follow link to 'Cycling England - checklist'.

If you are considering a new development project or highway scheme in Shropshire, and would like to discuss how to provide for cyclists, from cycle parking stands to cycle tracks, please contact us. We can also provide details of proposed cycle routes in Shropshire.

Shrewsbury is designated as a ‘growth point’ and planners/ developers will need to consider building sustainable transport into new developments. Follow link to 'DfT - building sustainable transport into new developments'.

Designing a new scheme?

The DfT have published cycling infrastructure design guidelines which are relevant to all highway schemes. Follow link to 'DfT - cycling infrastructure design guidelines'

The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges also includes guidance about non-motorised users. Follow link to 'Design manual for roads and bridges'.

For projects which form part of the National Cycle Network or Connect2, Sustrans also produces guidelines and practical details. Follow link to 'Sustrans guidelines - NCN routes and Connect2.

For other examples of guidance please see useful websites.

Reviewing existing schemes?

Road Safety Audits are undertaken on most large highway projects implemented by Shropshire Council.

The Highways Agency is responsible for trunk roads including the A5, A49 south of Shrewsbury and A458. The safety audits which they use can be viewed by following the link to 'Highways Agency - safety audits.'

Other examples of cycle audits and vulnerable road user audits are given in the useful websites section.

Useful websites:

Best practice

• Cycling England engineering and planning advice. Follow link to 'Cycling England engineering and planning advice '
• Cyclists’ Touring Club benchmarking programme – lots of examples of best practice and photo library. Follow link to 'Cyclists Touring club benchmarking programme'
• Examples of best practice from the Netherlands. Follow link to 'Fiets Beraad - examples from the Netherlands'.
• Examples from around Europe. Follow link to: 'Velo - examples from around Europe'.

Design guidelines

• Telford and Wrekin cycling design standards.Please contact us for details of these.
• DfT Cycling Infrastructure Design. Follow link to 'DfT - cycling infrastructure design guidelines'.
• Sustrans National Cycle Network Guidelines and Practical Details. Follow link to 'Sustrans guidelines - NCN routes and Connect2'.
• Nottinghamshire Council cycling design guide. Follow link to 'Nottinghamshire Council cycling design guide'.
• Scottish Executive 'Cycling by design'. Follow link to 'Scottish Executive - cycling by design'.
• For off-road routes and Greenways, follow link to 'Information about green ways and off-road routes'.
• Manual for streets, follow link to 'DfT manual for streets'.

Cycle audit and review

• Department for Transport cycle audit advice. Follow link to 'DfT cycle audit advice'.
• Lancashire County Council vulnerable road user audit. Follow link to 'Lancashire vulnerable road user audit'.

Other sources of cycling information

• Please see Department for Transport bibliography, follow link to 'DfT - bibliography'.

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