Planning regulations: Play safety expert defends cul de sacs

The draft government guidelines, Manual for Streets, recommends that agrid layout of streets should be used in preference to cul de sacs.

The report said frequent intersections in grid layouts made cars slowdown while the layout also made better use of space.

It added that cul de sac layouts, based on roads organised into "loopsand lollipops", meant longer journeys, which encouraged car use.

However, Rob Wheway, play safety adviser to the Child AccidentPrevention Trust, said children were far more likely to be allowed toplay outside in cul de sacs than in through roads.

"Children are far more likely to play out in cul de sacs because thetraffic is slow and because the houses are grouped so parents can keepan eye on them," he said. "The Government is completely wrong to goagainst short cul de sacs." He added that intersections on a grid wouldhave to be built at 50- to 100-yard intervals in order to slow trafficadequately.