Blog

Early in November 2020, one of our Senior Transport Planners, George Stow, began volunteering at a School Streets scheme near his home in Hove. School Streets schemes close the road outside a school at the beginning and end of the school day, lowering air pollution, reducing the risk of traffic incidents, promoting social distancing during the COVID pandemic, and contributing to a positive community setting. George provides an article on his hands-on experience of the scheme below, detailing the positive impact he has seen it make, and the challenges involved with setting up these schemes.

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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, UK supermarkets have made huge changes to the operation of their delivery services. As huge numbers of people limited the number of trips they made out of the house, supermarkets saw a surge in online ordering requiring a huge and rapid scaling of their delivery services. Consequently, the online shopping sector is set to grow 33% in 2020, reaching an estimated value of £16.8 billion.

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Pavement parking has long been a contentious and antagonistic issue. While banned in Greater London besides a few exemptions, it is legal - although advised against - in the rest of the UK. Now, as part of the post-Covid-19 recovery involves encouraging more people to choose active travel, the problem is once again being looked at by the government.

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On the 27th of July, the UK Government published its “Gear Change: A bold vision for cycling and walking” document, a plan that sets out the long-term vision of radically increasing active travel, with a £2 billion investment fund for cycling and walking to facilitate this. In support of the “Gear Change” vision, the LTN1/20 “Cycle Infrastructure Design” document was also published, containing guidance for local authorities and highways engineers on designing high-quality, safe cycle schemes and infrastructure.

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Mayer Brown Ltd (MBL) are a multidisciplinary consultancy providing Transport Planning, Transport Infrastructure Design and Environmental Assessment services for development projects across the UK. MBL have a wealth of experience supporting schools and education facilities from a highways and transportation perspective. This note provides a brief view of our experience. Further details on any individual topic can be provided at request – contact details are provided at the end of this note.

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Up until recently, e-scooters were illegal in the UK on public land. However, to ease pressure on public transport during the coronavirus pandemic, e-scooter trials have been fast tracked to begin a year earlier than planned and thus are legal as of July 4th.

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Covid-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation in December 2019 and on the 23rd March 2020, the UK went into a nationwide lockdown.

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On the first few days outside the European Union, let’s take a moment to consider our national environmental policy, more specifically the recently published “Environmental Bill.” So, what is the Government’s Environmental Bill?

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What is a Workplace Parking Levy? A Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) is a licensing scheme for active workplace parking places. It charges employers and education organisations for the number of parking places they provide that are regularly used by employees, students or others. Employers can choose to pay the charge themselves, or they can pass it down to their employees.

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Discrepancies between guidelines of various sources regarding the appropriate standards of ramps for highways and accesses can be confusing. This is the case for permissible gradients, maximum rises and the landings criteria for ramps. There is, of course, a relationship between the length of a ramp and the gradient that people can manage; the longer the ramp the less severe the gradient required. Here we look at the variations and clarify the standards to help you with future assessments and developments.

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