THE borough council has said that pavements were left out of the design for a Basingstoke housing development because the roads are meant to be “shared equally” by pedestrians and vehicles.

The Gazette understands that residents living in Longacre, which opened more than six years ago, have questioned why much of the housing development has no pavements, with homes opening straight onto the roads and nowhere safe for pedestrians to walk.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s head of planning sustainability and infrastructure Ruth Ormella said: “As a relatively calm traffic environment, the highways around the Longacre development are designated as shared spaces. This means that pedestrians and vehicles share the same road surface equally, rather than cars having priority.”

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Asked how pedestrians and drivers are made aware of this, the council said it was the responsibility of the Highways Authority to install road signs.

A spokesperson for the borough council added: “When determining planning applications for new developments, the council follows the relevant planning policy and guidance and takes expert consultation advice from the Highways Authority. Shared surfaces are a feature of some developments, which is allowed for in highway and planning guidance.”

The council referred to the Department for Transport’s Manual for Streets which sets out a holistic approach to street design, assigning a higher priority to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.

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The manual states: “The intention is to create streets that encourage greater social interaction and enjoyment while still performing successfully as conduits for movement.”

It recommends placing pedestrians at the top of the hierarchy when designing streets.

The manual includes a number of points including creating “well-connected permeable street networks [to] encourage more people to walk and cycle to local destinations, improving their health while reducing motor traffic, energy use and pollution”.

A spokesperson for Vistry Group – part of Linden Homes which designed the development which was approved in 2015 - said: “The detailed layout for the site was designed in line with the principles of Manual for Streets which is a government document focussing on lightly trafficked residential streets such as those found within this development.

“The main street, which is the most heavily trafficked within the site, has been designed as a more traditional street with a carriageway and raised pavements to either side.

“In more lightly trafficked parts of the site there are shared surface streets and private drives which serve a smaller number of homes.

“This is a standard and well-accepted form of layout and street design in modern developments, providing low design speeds and pedestrian priority.

“There is also a good network of pedestrian footpaths across the site which provide direct access to a number of the homes on the site as well as open spaces and the wider footpath network."

The development was the subject of controversy last year after Linden Homes was criticised for spending £24,000 on a sculpture described as looking like “random sticks stuck in dog excrement".

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The Gazette has asked Hampshire County Council whether it has any plans to install road signs in Longacre Rise.

Do you live at Longacre Rise and have concerns about the shared roads? Get in touch by emailing emily.roberts@newsquest.co.uk.