6.1 Pedestrian vision and strategy

Pedestrians are at the top of the hierarchy of movement, and therefore the design of pavements, pedestrian paths and spaces for people take precedence over other street design elements.

Pedestrian paths must be well connected to homes, local services and other uses.

They must be and feel safe and easy to navigate.

The following design principles should be adhered to:

• Pavements must be a minimum width of 2m, 3m on primary roads, to allow for movement, with wider pavements in places where there is significant pedestrian footfall, such as town centres and outside of schools, and where there is additional street furniture. This can be reduced for short sections to 1.5m.
• On retrofit schemes you should seek to achieve a minimum of 1.5m pavement width.
• There is no maximum pavement width.
• Strong, durable, attractive and high-quality materials should be used where possible, including natural stone setts and flags, block paving and clay pavers.
• Asphalt should be avoided.
• Permeable paving can be used unless underground services are running beneath the pavement.