A week ago, for the first time in nearly two years, we hosted a Practical Democracy Project event. It was a specially themed event on the important but under-discussed topic of UK Traffic Regulation Orders.
In the last 18 months we’ve seen a significant upsurge in the use of Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) particularly in their experimental variant (ETROs). They’ve helped local government to enact all sorts of tangible – and often contentious – changes to our streets and highways in response to short-term drivers, like pandemic-influenced active travel, through to longer-term changes dictated by climate change.
The event discussed the following questions:
- Does the public at large understand TROs?
- Is the way they’re produced fair or effective?
- Does the use of experimental TROs represent a democratic deficit?
- Is the process itself usable for citizens?
If you missed it, this blog post contains everything you need to catch up. You can watch a recording of the event, and we’ve also linked the slide decks from each of the speakers below.
Huge thanks to our brilliant speakers: Lucy Colbeck from Playing Out; Baz Lokat from GeoPlace; and Mark Philpotts (aka the Ranty Highwayman) from Sweco.
TROs and ETROs are a topic we’re really keen to explore again in future so sign up to our newsletter for updates, or follow us on Twitter to see more.
Download the speaker slides below
• Baz Lokat Senior Consultant – GeoPlace
• Lucy Colbeck, Play Streets Development Officer
• Mark Philpotts – Technical Manager, Walking & Cycling – Sweco
Other useful links
- Article: What’s going on with TROs and why should you care?
- Find out more about the PlayStreets initiative and relevant resources
- Read GeoPlace’s TRO Discovery Project; find out more about the state of TROs in the UK
- Birmingham City Council made frequent use of ETROs during the height of the pandemic. Read their story
We hope this was useful and look forward to seeing you at the next event.
