Spaces for People suggestions

Overview

Scottish Borders Council is seeking the input of Borderers to identify potential schemes to put temporary infrastructure in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spaces for People is a new, temporary infrastructure programme in Scotland which offers funding and support to make it safer for people who choose to walk, cycle or wheel for essential trips and exercise during Covid-19. The Spaces for People programme is funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Sustrans Scotland.

It aims to enable statutory bodies to implement measures focused on protecting public health, supporting physical distancing and preventing a second wave of the outbreak.

The Council is keen to hear of any suggestions the public have to extending pavements, creating cycle lanes or closing streets on a temporary basis. It is important to bear in mind that such schemes may see a loss of parking, loading bays and taxi ranks, depending on the location, and temporary road closures would have to apply to all vehicles, including residents, delivery vehicles and blue badge holders.

Guidance/Criteria

All applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Protecting public health
• Provide temporary walking and cycling infrastructure that helps to protect public health.
• It will enable safe physical distancing for essential journeys and exercise for everyone, in particular where there are space constraints or user safety concerns.

Projects should focus on essential journeys including:

• Active travel projects to and from schools
• To and from hospitals and health services
• To shops and pharmacies
• for recommended exercise, for example, neighbourhoods and local parks.

Projects should be delivered quickly and provide a visible improvement that has an immediate benefit.