Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood Feasibility Study Summary July 2020 Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood Report summary 919 comments were submitted on the Sustrans was commissioned to deliver a programme of community engagement and Commonplace map. collaborative design activities to support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s first 64.9% of the users who ‘fully filtered’ neighbourhood, as part of the wider Active Neighbourhood vision. specified a connection said that they live within the area. Understanding how the community feel about Levenshulme When describing places in the area, 91% felt that it was important for that place to be served by An overwhelming healthy walking/cycling routes number of respondents 34% of respondents felt that they were worried A ‘Tell us about your were not very comfortable or not about too much street’ survey was sent at all comfortable walking in the to 9000 households. It traffic and rat area. was completed by 590 running. households. Even fewer people felt comfortable cycling in the area, with 66% in total feeling not very or not at all comfortable. The changes you told us you’d like to see (Top 5) Over 137 people attended the Co-Design Event in January. 102 people attended in February. You told us: • Which streets to filter • Where the filters could go • How we can support the filters with other improvements Trialling a filtered neighbourhood in Levenshulme Filtered Through working with the Using these principles, a Filtered Neigbourhoods can community, 5 key design Neighbourhood design has been address rat running, principles were identified for how produced, with plans to trial it from speeding and too the area could be improved: Summer 2020. much traffic, all issues raised by the 1. Making active travel a viable community. Further option This is a chance to benefits include 2. Accessibility understand if it works and better access to 3. Greenery and attractiveness green spaces and 4. Connectivity how the local community reduced air pollution. 5. Distinctly Levenshulme feel about it. Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 3 Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood Introduction How we have worked with the local community Manchester City Council (MCC) and Levenshulme Bee Network (LBN) were successful in securing funding from Initially there was the ‘Listening Phase’ where the project Transport for Greater Manchester to deliver the first Active Neighbourhood as part of the Bee Network Programme. team ran an online and face to face community engagement By prioritising people over cars and making it easier to walk and cycle in Levenshulme the project aims to create to identify the issues people face in the area. calmer, safer and more sociable streets. The “Tell Us About Your Street” (TUAYS) survey was sent Sustrans was commissioned to deliver a programme of community engagement and collaborative design activities to all 9000 households in the project area in October 2019. to support the delivery of Greater Manchester’s first ‘fully filtered’ neighbourhood, as part of the wider Active This could also be completed online. Neighbourhood vision. The Filtered Neighbourhood is just one project area within the Active Neighbourhood An online perceptions mapping tool to measure how Scheme, with other areas such as new and improved crossings and cycle infrastructure being provided by MCC. respondents felt about the area and what improvements This report outlines the findings which advocate for a filtered neighbourhood (FN) trial in Levenshulme and the could be made to encourage them to walk and cycle more process for creating the filter plan with the local community. It is not intended to summarise the wider Active was launched via Commonplace on 20th October 2019. Neighbourhood project. https://levenshulmebeenetworkmap.commonplace.is/ Then there was the ‘Solutions Phase’ where we asked the community how they would like to see these issues solved. A filtered neighbourhood creates barriers to cars on residential streets within a neighbourhood, Community events and pop ups were run to see if a filtered neighbourhood might be benefitial in the area and gather What is a filtered preventing ‘rat running’ but still allowing residents access to their homes. Direct access is local knowledge as part of the design process if this was the case. neighbourhood? maintained and enhanced for people walking and cycling, improving the appeal of those types The aim was to gain insight and understanding of issues and develop and design locally-led solutions. Below is a of journeys. list of events that helped form the design for the trial. There have been around 70 active neighbourhood events in total since 2018. Event Details Measures which block through-routes for vehicles, while allowing journeys on foot or by bike January 2020 What is a modal and occasionally by bus to continue. These can include bollards, gates, planters, opposing Tesco pop up event To engage with those in the community who may not have completed the postal or filter? one way streets, restricted turns, bus gates, school streets and width restrictions. A filter is online surveys. not required on every street for the whole neighbourhood to become filtered. Residents and visitors can still access all properties by car, and emergency services will still have access. Inspire pop up event As above Burnage Lane pop up As above Levenshulme Old Library Levenshulme Youth Forum meeting Madina Mosque pop up To engage with those in the community who may not have completed the postal or The benefits of a filtered neighbourhood online surveys. Inspire co-design event Co-design workshop to explain the design process and ask the community how the roads and cells should be defined. Combined with The filtered People living in February 2020 streetscape neighbourhood scheme existing filtered Christ Church South Detailed Co-design workshop with the community improvements, they in Waltham Forest led neighbourhoods Manchester Hands on can boost high streets to the removal of 44% are becoming more Design Workshop and local town centres. of traffic on residential physically active, Walking and cycling streets. This led to spending an extra 32 Arcadia hands on design Detailed Co-design workshop with the community improvements can significant improvements minutes walking, or 9 workshop increase retail spend by in air quality and peoples’ minutes cycling per 1 2 Seddon Street active To engage with residents in the extended project area to the North of Matthews Lane up to 30%1. health . week . streets event/ co-design pop up Burnage community Information session forum 1 Waltham Forest Cycling Campaign. Available at https://wfcycling.wordpress.com/mini-holland/evidence/ 2 Alrdred et al. (2018) Impacts of an active travel intervention with a cycling focus in a suburban context: One-year findings from an evaluation of London’s in- progress mini-Hollands programme. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856417314866 Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 4 Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood July 2020 5 Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood Levenshulme Filtered Neighbourhood Who responded? Gathering responses across the whole area 590 households in the area returned the TUAYS Survey. As can be seen from the map below, the responses are widely spread across the area, with the majority of A ‘Tell us about your streets represented. The location which TUAYS surveys street’ survey was sent 919 comments were were returned from are shown as yellow envelopes. to 9000 households. submitted on the Over 137 people It was completed by Commonplace map. attended the Co-Design The return rate in the northernmost part is low because 590 households. The 64.9% of the users who Event in January. 102 this area was not included in the project boundary at coverage of respondents specified a connection people attended in the point that these surveys went out. It has since been within the area was said that they live within February. included at the request of residents to take part in the widespread with the area. Active Neighbourhood scheme. responses from 163 different streets. Comments on Commonplace are also dispersed throughout the whole area, but tend to be more concentrated around larger roads. Of the 486 unique users who left comments on Commonplace, 328 What is your connection the the area? (Commonplace respondents) specified what their connection was to the area. 64.9% of the users who I live here specified a connection said that I work here they ‘live within the area’. Besides living within the area, the most I study here common connections to the area I live nearby were ‘I study here’ (24.7%) and ‘I live nearby’ (11.9%). I own a business here I do the school run here Those who responded on my hildren go to shool here Commonplace had the option to leave demographic information. This was I'm here for leisure do my shoing here done to ensure that the consultation reached an accurate cross section I commute through here of the Levenshulme filtered I'm just visiting neighbourhood area population. As the bar charts show below, I'm part of a community group based here Commonplace respondents reflect the area’s population cross section Other (inluding school’) to a reasonable extent. This is based 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 % on the most recent Census data. How did we improve representation? Sustrans ran 5 pop-up events to reach a wider audience and improve representation, which Age (Commonplace respondents) Ethicity (Commonplace respondents) took place at Tesco, outside shops on Burnage Lane, at the Madina Mosque and at Inspire % % % 2011 Census Commonplace Map % Mid-2018 LSOA CommonplaceMid-2018 Map LSOA Commonplace Map 100 2011 Census Commonplace Map 100 100 100 during the Computer Buddies session for over 75 50s and the Bread and Butter Bag collection, a 75 75 further pop up took place on Seddon Street to 75 50 engage with residents in the extended project 50 50 area.