Home Zone: Frequently Asked Questions
The follwing information was provided by West Sussex County Council
1. Why has this area been selected?
This is for a number of reasons.
The Government invited Local Highway Authorities to bid for a Challenge Fund for Home Zone projects. West Sussex County Council felt this area was the best suited in West Sussex - according to the criteria that had to be met - and to have existing local support, that could be developed.
The area had already been identified for area-wide traffic accident study due to the high level of injury accidents to pedestrians and children. In addition, local groups, organisations and people including elected councillors had been active for some time in calling for such a project in this area.
The area has a great deal of potential with its mix of residential streets and local facilities, services and community spirit. The Government clearly recognised that and that is why £500,000 of funding was awarded.
2. What is the boundary of the Home Zone I Low Speed Zone?
The boundary will not be fixed until after the full consultation with the local residents, businesses and other organisations and all the views are known.
The designers will look at which streets to include based on the views and issues raised by local people, technical criteria - such as accident records - and practical issues. Local people will be consulted on this as part of the design process in the spring.
However, we cannot consider streets from right outside the study area, such as anything beyond the Chichester Road for example.
The Home Zone would only be a very few streets, surrounded by the larger low speed zone.
3. How will we avoid diverting through traffic onto other residential roads just outside the boundary?
This will be one of the central parts of the design process to ensure that the boundary chosen is appropriate and that the measures are correct to improve safety and the other objectives without creating a problem elsewhere.
4. Has the scheme already been decided?
No, nothing of the design has been decided yet. The design process will only start once the local consultations have been finished and all the issues people want to raise have been identified. There will be another consultation on outline design concepts next spring.
5. Are there going to be specific measures such as seating outside my home?
As already stated, no design decisions have been made yet. Please use the consultation process to let us know your views on these sorts of measures and others. Then we can take these views into consideration as part of the design process next year. We want to develop a scheme which meets the needs of local people.
6. What is going to be done at places I know of where there are already problems and what will be done to reduce traffic speeds?
We want to hear from you with all the relevant problems in the local area - whether you think we are already aware of them or not ? and your ideas for what could be done. That way, the people who will be designing the scheme can consider all of these locations.
You will start to see proposed solutions during next year, firstly in outline in spring, then in more detailed form later on in the year.
7. Who is going to look after the Home Zone and ensure it is properly maintained?
It is vital that local residents and businesses feel ownership of the Home Zone and help us (Local Authorities) to look after it. We will work with residents towards setting up an appropriate group to look after the interests of the Home Zone area which would be in co-operation with the Local Authorities and their services, such as highway maintenance, parks etc...
8. What happens if not everybody wants a Home Zone /Low Speed Zone?
Home Zone schemes need local support to work properly. Not everybody will want the same things as each other. We [WSCC + Consultants + Steering Group] will work closely with the community to develop a solution that can achieve large majority support. Any scheme will have to meet the Government's criteria for Home Zones so that the County Council can claim the funding against the Government grant.
Otherwise the Government would re-allocate the funding, probably to another part of the country. We would have no further say in where the money went or how it is spent. The County Council would remain with its duty to address the local traffic accident problems but without the opportunity to look at the area as a whole.
The Home and Low Speed Zones offer a real opportunity to address local problems holistically rather than in a piecemeal fashion.
9. When will my ideas or concerns be considered?
The views of those living and working locally are extremely important. Many of you have taken time to contribute already, by phoning us and coming along to the introductory meetings which have been held.
This project cannot fully succeed without your help. The study team are committed to obtaining the views of as wide a range of people as possible and are creating a number of ways to do this. These include the following:
- The first consultation interviews are happening in mid September with house-to-house surveys of local residents, and involving businesses and schools. This is to gather information about the area at present and the local problems and concerns.
- In mid October there will be consultation events concentrating on people?s ideas, aspirations and hopes for the area in the future.
- There will be a series of newsletters updating everybody on progress and you will of course be able to respond to them.
- You can contact West Sussex County Council directly on: 01243 777043 / 777394 Or alternatively Social Research Associates, the company managing consultation for us on FREEPHONE 0800 0854414
- Perhaps most importantly of all, you have the opportunity to work with your own local group which is being set up. This is called the Community Participation Group and will be as representative of local people as possible.