STREETSCAPE GUIDANCE

HOME
INTRODUCTION
PART A
A vision for London’s streets
PART B
From strategy to delivery
PART C
New measures for new challenges
PART D
Balancing priorities
PART F
Appendix
PART E
Physical design and materials
SECTION 6
Introduction
SECTION 7
High quality footways
SECTION 8
Carriageways
SECTION 9
Crossings
SECTION 10
Kerbside activity
SECTION 11
Footway amenities
SECTION 12
Safety and functionality
SECTION 13
Street environment
SECTION 14
Transport interchanges
Streetscape Guidance
[Part E – Physical design and materials] Street environment 280
The following are essential design considerations
for newly grassed areas:
• Achieve the intended maintenance regime and
required permits
• Avoid placing street furniture in grassed areas
as additional trimming will be required
• Maintain sightlines, visibility and access where
low frequency and wildflower grass verges are
proposed
• Planting of seeds or plants of local provenance
where existing habitats and wildflower areas
might be compromised by the introduction of
non-local species
• Should be of sufficient width to allow effective
maintenance and avoid edges and corners
becoming easily degraded
• Ensure that grassed areas are located away
from strong pedestrian desire lines to avoid
the grass becoming downtrodden
• Choose more drought tolerant grass species
to limit irrigation regimes
Grassed areas on the TLRN
There are three broad grass maintenance regimes
used on the TLRN:
A. Regular cut grassed areas with a high, medium
or low frequency depending on the location.
High frequency areas are high profile spaces
and include ‘town streets’ and ‘city places’.
A medium frequency maintenance regime
is usually more appropriate for verges in
locations characterised by slower speed
and higher residential populations such as
‘local streets’ and ‘high roads’, while a low
maintenance regime is appropriate for higher
speed road verges and central reserves on
‘connectors’ and ‘arterial roads’.
B. Grassed areas with bulbs add seasonal interest
and local colour. They are maintained as
regular cut grass with the exception that the
areas containing bulbs remain uncut for six
weeks after flowering to allow energy reserves
to return to the bulb underground. During this
period the verge can appear unmanaged, but
regular cuts to adjacent verges indicate that
maintenance is active.
C. Wildflower (species-rich) grasslands have
historically been limited to high-speed
arterial roads but improved establishment
and maintenance techniques have led to
an increase in popularity and use in higher
profile urban areas. They can add long periods
of flowering and create habitat for insects,
but the lower maintenance regime leads to
longer grass which can appear unsightly if not
carefully designed for succession flowering.
Wildflowers grow best on nutrient-poor soils
where competition from weeds is reduced.
Understanding the soil conditions before
sowing wildflowers is essential as weed
control on fertile soils can be very difficult and
expensive.
Figure 276: Planted areas form a large part of
London’s green infrastructure