Movement & Connectivity

“Successful development depends upon a movement network that makes connections to destinations, places and communities, both within the site and beyond its boundaries.” – The National Design Guide

VISION

New places in Kent will support moves towards lower-carbon movement and lifestyles. Designs will cater for everyone, not just car drivers, and support our county’s sustainable future.

Places will be well connected, enabling people to commute easily by active travel and public transport.

Rural lanes and footways will be green and inviting; urban streets will be well-lit and welcoming. Digital connectivity is integral to new development to support remote working and service delivery.

DESIGN FOR ALL, NOT JUST DRIVERS

Your development will be safe and accessible for all and cater for everyone, not just car drivers. It should help ensure a healthy future for Kent’s residents by providing opportunities and encouragement to walk, cycle and use public transport. You should limit the impacts of car use and identify opportunities to improve air quality wherever feasible.

CREATE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

Your design should create as many high-quality connections as possible between residents and the services and amenities they use. This will enable people to move freely, easily and sustainably around the site. We want to see secure cycle storage at homes, public transport stops and workplaces, and well-lit, accessible footpaths.

CONNECT WITH CULTURE

Most visitors to Kent are cultural and heritage tourists. Making it easy for them to move around and see a number of sites or attractions increases stay time and economic benefit. Public transport has a key role to play in delivering this connectivity. For residents, easy access on foot or by public transport to cultural activities and the night-time economy increases levels of engagement and supports local business and enterprise.

DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE

Kent is committed to a low-carbon future. Your design should give people greater choice in how they get around, and promote low-carbon options including car and journey sharing and car clubs. You should also take changing technology into account, providing charging points for electric cars and e-bikes as standard wherever possible, or at least ensuring your designs will allow easy retrofitting in future.

THINK DIGITAL

We will not accept residential designs that fail to integrate modern communications infrastructure. We want to see robust, powerful digital connectivity across your site, enabling residents, businesses and communities to work and access services remotely, and reducing their overall need to travel. Our advice on Digital Infrastructure can help you understand our expectations to deliver this fourth utility.

CONNECT WITH THE WIDER CONTEXT

We want to see characterful streets and roads that reflect the local context and link effectively to surrounding neighbourhoods, countryside and services. Routes should be direct, well-overlooked, safe and easy to navigate; they should take account of the needs of all potential users and provide a genuine choice of sustainable transport modes.

WORK WITH NATURE

We want to see streets that are functional, easy to look after and usable by the whole community. By incorporating green and blue infrastructure, you can create habitat for wildlife and improve water management, enhancing Kent’s landscape. You should also use street trees where feasible to soften the impact of car parking, help improve air quality and contribute to biodiversity.

THINK BEYOND MOVEMENT

Well-designed streets help create and bind communities. In your design decisions, promoting community cohesion should be at least as important as enabling traffic movements. We want to see streets that provide social spaces where people can meet and mingle with neighbours outside their homes; contribute to health, wellbeing, accessibility and inclusion.

Please avoid:
Using ‘standard’ street typologies that are bland and uninviting
Blocking or redirecting existing routes across the site, especially if these are important for the wider area
Designs with lots of dead-end streets that are hard to navigate and serve by refuse collection, emergency and other service vehicles
Car-centric designs. While cars, particularly electric and driverless vehicles, will be an important part of future developments, designs must cater for non-drivers and, wherever possible, encourage people out of their cars altogether

Further Guidance and Best Practice:

Active Travel Strategy – Kent County Council

Kent and Medway Energy and Low Emissions Strategy – Kent County Council in partnership with Medway Council and Kent district councils

Sustainability Checklist:

This characteristic is particularly important for Resource Efficiency, Sustainable Connectivity, and Climate Resilience.