3.2.1 Where this code applies

Roads and streets are not the same: roads are primarily for movement, while streets are public spaces where people both spend time and move around. Guidance such as the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) must not be used for places where people live, but may be suitable for trunk roads and the strategic highway network. The following design rules explain when and where this code applies.

MUST

DMRB standards for layout, geometry and junction design must only be applied to trunk roads or the strategic network outside cities, towns and villages. They must not be used in built-up areas. The 'Streets for All' standards apply to all streets in built-up areas, even where these streets fulfil a strategic network function. This includes industrial and large-scale commercial sites, but excludes certain rural facilities such as quarries and renewable energy developments.

DRMB street design standards are only appropriate for trunk roads outside of towns and villages.

MUST

Where a settlement expands and new development adjoins a trunk road, that road must be redesigned as a street in line with the typologies in this code. It must include a clear street frontage. This section of trunk road has become part of the settlement area, and needs to be treated as such from a design perspective, even if it continues to carry large quantities of traffic from a network perspective.

As settlements expand, existing roads can be turned into a street by integrating them with the new development, avoiding development which turns its back on existing streets and settlements.

MUST

When new development fronts onto an existing street, parallel access roads must not be used. Instead, provide direct frontage access on the existing street, or use a pedestrian only path (Type 3.D) and provide car parking elsewhere (see section 3.8).

To create a sense of enclosure, parallel access streets with front parking should not be used. Where direct access from the existing street is not suitable, car parking should be provided elsewhere (such as to the rear).

Examples of a parallel access road with front parking (left), Helsby, Cheshire and homes fronting onto street with parking to the rear (right), Taunton, Somerset.