DfT guidance is for urban councils to make ‘radical’ reallocations of StreetSpace to enable ,& for short journeys.

The guidance expressly says changes should be made ‘swiftly, in a matter of weeks’. 1/

A failure by councils to act on this now will be judged by history as harshly as the failure to provide PPE to hospital staff.

Council leaders need to get personally involved now if we are to avert real harm as lockdown eases.

2/

Right now I can think of just one London borough that is coming close to meeting the challenge of the moment at the necessary speed.

Delivering a few hundred meters of pavement widening does even come close to what is needed. 3/

We have an 85% drop in capacity on buses & tubes. Lockdown is already substantially easing. Hospitals are having to beg councils for changes to local transport.

Councils need bold, rapid cheap plans that can be implemented now.

If you don’t have them, ask for help /4

If you are a councillor or officer in the UK:

1) Take the 5 mins to read the DfT guidance

Understand that:

2) Rapid changes with temporary materials are 95% - 99% cheaper than normal projects.

3) Without clear political leadership you will fail https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reallocating-road-space-in-response-to-covid-19-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities/traffic-management-act-2004-network-management-in-response-to-covid-19

For changes you should consider:

1- How to deploy temporary measures read Urban Design Group’s

http://www.udg.org.uk/content/fast-urban-change-life-saving-streets