Spot the Difference

A street with surfacing and kerbs undergoing demolition protected by construction side pedestrian guard boards
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The Spot

The Spot (not to be mistaken with the function venue seen from Lara Croft way…or the fictional yellow dog) is the area of Derby City Centre where London Road, Osmaston Road and St Peter’s Street meet like the confluence of three mighty rivers (Ed. Yes James).

The Spot – At the southern end of Derby City Centre

It’s open to motorised traffic in one direction from Babington Lane, acting as a cut through for rat-running (despite not being permitted) and thus drives a wedge through what is largely a pedestrianised part of town. It’s on a bus route and there is parking for blue-badge holders providing easy access to the shops.

There’s an awkward, well, terrible/awful/down-right dangerous (insert word(s) of choice….don’t hold back) contraflow cycle “lane” where you’re lucky to not be squeezed up against parked vehicles, knocked off by car doors opening or run over by drivers pulling out of the bays…..as this brave hero captured for posterity.

Riding the gauntlet – Pre works.

Transforming Cities Fund

In October 2021, Derby City Council opened a consultation on a public realm and active travel improvement scheme. Encompassing The Spot and Gower Street. The proposals was designed to improve the safety and connectivity of the area for pedestrians, improving active travel options, reducing vehicular traffic and providing new locations for bus stops. It was intended that these proposals also build on the measures that have been introduced in the past.

Lifted mostly from the City Council’s own words, the result should be more attractive unified streets that strengthen the feeling of place and create local identity. A contraflow cycle lane that is partly segregated from vehicles shall be provided and Blue Badge Holder parking provision relocated to Gower Street that has level access onto the street. Wider pavements with tree planting and attractive new seating areas shall be implemented and improved level crossing areas at the junction of London Road and Osmaston Road and the junction of Babington Lane and Gower Street.

Consultation Scheme Plan

True to the marketing prose from the Council’s, the bus stops outside the Post Office/British Heart Foundation shop will be relocated onto St Peter’s Street. New parking provision for displaced blue-badge holders is also shown on Gower Street.

Trees and planters are shown on the consultation design on the Waterstones-side of St Peter’s Street, providing summer shade for shoppers and passers-through.

Initial consultation design for The Spot – Click to open PDF.

Derby Cycling Group members responded to the online consultation. Common themes included:

  • Narrow cycleway – Ambiguity on its actual width as there were few dimensions on the plan.
  • One-way only cycleway when a two-way is feasible
  • Lack of connectivity with a coherent cycle network – Both ends of the scheme spill out onto existing roads.
  • Shared use with buses in one direction – Can be quite intimidating, especially for children.
  • Lack of physical segregation – Contraflow lane with paint
  • No proposed change to speed limit through the area.

The cynic in me says this is a more a public realm improvement than an active travel-led scheme. The objectives do not appear to facilitate new journeys by bike or make existing ones safer.

Revised Design

The revised design was not circulated to the wider public and only came to our attention through a freedom of information request – Credit to Kate Ball for that.

Post consultation design for The Spot – Click to open PDF

However, it appears that many of the comments made by DCG have been incorporated into the scheme. On the whole it’s generally an improvement to the consultation plan. The cycleway is typically around 3m in width but this has come at the expense of a row of half a dozen or so trees proposed in the consultation plan.

There are no fundamental changes to the interfaces with the existing roads and junctions – But this could result in “scope creep” if all ends of the scheme had to link up with existing cycleways. The layout doesn’t preclude that from happening with a later scheme.

Loading

The addition of the loading bay is new and sticks out like a sore thumb. Impinging on both the footway and cycleway, narrowing the latter to 2m and spoiling the aesthetics of the paving. While businesses need loading bays for deliveries (and it beats lorries trashing pavements) it’s proposed location is puzzling. Not least because there wasn’t an existing loading bay here before. Could the “Ultra low emission vehicle” taxi bay have been used for loading purposes which are typically limited to discrete times of the day in line with the pedestrianised parts of the city centre.

20’s Plenty.

20mph speed limit on the road appears to have been ruled out but due to the road alignment and that buses will stop on St Peter’s street, the attainable speed of a vehicle is unlikely to exceed 20mph anyway.

Segregation

The revised scheme plan does go into more detail with regards to carriageway, footway and cycleway segregation. The key is very explicit with regards to proposed kerb types.

What the Papers Say

Earlier this year the Derby Telegraph ran an article:

Concern over major changes to disabled parking bays in city centre

Usual comments aside, one concern raised (which has merit) is the steep incline from the current location of the blue-badge parking up towards Gower Street. While the proposed works will improve the footway for walking and wheeling, the gradient may be a barrier for some.

Boots on the Ground

As a regular passer-through of the city centre I happened upon the enabling works being carried out on Gower Street in the middle of October 2022. The existing wide footway outside Prosperity House was being cut back to provide parking bays for blue badge holders that will be relocated from St Peter’s Street.

A street with surfacing and kerbs undergoing demolition protected by construction side pedestrian guard boards
Work had started in earnest on remodeling Gower Street.

February 2023

Fast-forward to February 2023, the works on Gower Street are largely complete – Vehicles are using the new bays and there’s a new stealth-like bus shelter that’s camouflaged in the new tarmac.

And there’s just a bit of tidying up needed to the verge which will be furnished with benches & waste bins (in the rectangular cut-out) and planting installed in the empty beds.

Areas for planting, benches and a bin

The main works have started too on Babington Lane which include the installation of new gullies and kerb lines. These will be completed along with works on St Peter’s Street by the summer.

It’s a bit of a tight squeeze if you’re travelling into the city centre on bike or foot and what work site would be complete without a “Cyclists Dismount” sign? For public transport users, a number of Arriva bus services were suspended from 16th January 2023 for 12 Weeks due to the closure of Babington Lane.

We’ll be sure to get out there again the summer with the camera and write up our experience of using it once it’s opened up.