The Department for Transport commissioned CIHT in 2020 to revise and bring together Manual for Streets, and Manual for Streets 2. The Department is now taking forward the finalisation and publication of the revised Manual but cannot give a date for publication at present. Any queries on this project should be directed to the Department via the contact form at www.gov.uk/dft.
Streets and roads make up around three-quarters of all public space - their design, appearance, and the way they function have a huge impact on the quality of people's lives as well as economic and social vitality and environmental sustainability. The advice in the original Manual, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets, and Manual for Streets 2, still stands and should be used by all those involved in the design and maintenance of streets.
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CIHT has been awarded a grant by the Department for Transport to develop a revised Manual for Streets and WSP has been appointed to support the development of the new document.
The revised Manual for Streets will bring together the existing Manual for Streets and Manual for Streets 2 and will be key guidance for anyone working in the highways and transportation sector. The new guidance 'Manual for Streets' will supersede Manual for Streets (2007) and Manual for Streets 2.
Manual for Streets (2007) and Manual for Streets 2 (2010) are two complementary guidance documents for local authorities on designing residential and busier urban streets respectively.
The current documents are available here:
There are good reasons why a new Manual for Streets is now being developed. The current documents are referred to by practitioners and developers across the sector, but their use is not widespread, the first document was published 13 years ago and a lot has happened since including changes to the planning framework.
Recent reports have also evidenced that streets and public spaces are not being build to a satisfactory standard and that updated and more widespread use of Manual for Streets is an important part of improving that.
A Housing Design Audit for England, also reported by the BBC, which surveyed 142 developments found that these were almost two-and-half times more likely to deliver high-scoring and good developments when making use of the Manual for Streets guidance. The Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission also concluded in its final report that there is an important need to improve and update the government's guidance on street design.
"It’s very encouraging to see another step taken to update the Manual for Streets, which will be critical in helping us deliver better streets for people all over the country."
"Manual for Streets has been a critical guidance in the design and implementation of many of our streets. We are very pleased to be able to award this project to WSP and we look forward to working with them and our main sponsor the Department for Transport to deliver new guidance that will help deliver better places for people.”
"We’re delighted to be supporting CIHT on this important piece of work and look forward to applying our people-centric approach to reflect the major changes in policy, practice and behaviour over the last decade."
“Delivering opportunities for an inclusive society and being future ready are core values for WSP, and ultimately taking a fresh and forward-looking approach to street design will make communities across the country happier, healthier and more productive.”
The Department is now taking forward the finalisation and publication of the revised Manual but cannot give a date for publication at present. Any queries on this project should be directed to the Department via the contact form at www.gov.uk/dft.
An introduction to why we are updating Manual for Streets.
Background to Manual for Streets
Updating Manual for Streets - Department for Transport
CIHT's series of publications Streets and Transport in the Urban Environment is a range of guidelines based upon work carried out over the last few years in updating elements of the publication 'Transport in the Urban Environment' (1997) to assist professionals in implementing 'Manual for Streets'.
The new Manual for Streets will take account of the advice guidance from these publications.
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