Truro Quiet Lanes Trial
For latest information on the scheme scroll down to Update - October 2022
We are working with partners to improve the health and fitness of residents and visitors, and tackle climate change, by promoting walking and cycling projects and encouraging more people to leave their cars at home.
One of these projects involved the Quiet Lanes, a network of rural, mainly unclassified, lanes between the B3284 (Shortlanesend area) and the A390 (Royal Cornwall Hospital and Threemilestone area).
The narrow lanes, which are unsuitable for high levels of traffic, are being used as a short cut by commuters travelling into the city and the hospital. 
We carried out a trial aimed at making the lanes more attractive and accessible for people walking and cycling by reducing the amount of traffic. This was intended to create a 15km network of quiet walking and cycling routes linking key destinations in Truro, helping to encourage more healthy lifestyles after the pandemic.
What did the trial involve?
Under the trial only residents and their visitors, and companies delivering to properties within the zone, were officially allowed to use the lanes. Vehicle prohibition signs were erected at 11 entry points, with the restrictions enforceable by the police. (see Plan below or view here)
The traffic prohibitions were made using an 'Experimental Traffic Regulation Order' (copy found here). A formal statutory consultation is part of the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order process during the first 6 months of the trial. Traffic and user surveys were also undertaken to assess the impact of the scheme.
Feedback from that process, alongside the user surveys and comparison of 'before and during' traffic monitoring data fed into the eventual decision on whether to make the traffic prohibitions permanent, to change the trial or scrap the whole idea.
The trial went live on Thursday 16th September 2021 and finished on 15th September 2022.
Update - October 2022 - Council listens to feedback as Truro Quiet Lanes trial comes to an end
The experimental trial to reduce through traffic using a network of rural lanes on the outskirts of Truro has ended and the results assessed. (See full results here)
The Quiet Lanes trial aimed to make a 15km network between Shortlanesend and Threemilestone safer for people wanting to walk and cycle there by banning motorists from driving through the narrow rural lanes unless they lived in the area or were making deliveries to residents.
Residents and commuters have been able to give their feedback before and during the year-long trial as part of the consultation process running alongside the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order. That feedback, together with recent traffic surveys and discussions with local stakeholders, including local Cornwall councillors, has been analysed.
The conclusion is that the trial has not been widely supported and that there has been no material shift in the behaviour of motorists using those roads. As a result, the trial is ending, the restrictions have now been lifted, and the signs removed.
Funding for the trial has come from the Department for Transport’s Active Travel fund which supports measures to bring about a modal shift to encourage people to walk and cycle more, especially where the journey is a short one.
Cornwall Council portfolio holder for transport Philip Desmonde said: “As part of this ‘living’ trial, a six-month statutory consultation period was in-built as part of the process to gather and assess the views of the public and stakeholders.
“The pre-trial user survey received 639 responses with 45% supporting it and 51% against the restrictions (The full results can be found here) – however the overriding majority of the circa 200 comments and emails received during the trial have been negative. The majority of these comments came from motorists who had previously used the lanes as a short cut to the A390. We have taken all the feedback, alongside the monitoring evidence, to make an informed decision on whether there are grounds to make the trial permanent, amend it or stop it. On balance, the decision is to stop and not make the order permanent as we take on board the valuable lessons that have been learned.
“For example, competing priorities for police resources and the difficulties in enforcing a ban in an area where access is still required to properties and businesses within the impacted area. Any future scheme will essentially need to be ‘self-enforcing’ or managed through the use of technology, as and when moving vehicle offences become enforceable by the Council.
“We’re committed to putting the infrastructure in place to enable people to make more sustainable choices about how they travel. Road transport is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions and around a quarter of car journeys in Cornwall are of less than three miles. We all need to look at how we travel and the changes we can make – big or small – that can help make a difference. It’s good for our health, the environment, and – in these increasingly cash-strapped times – our wallets too.
“This trial has helped us to understand the pressure points – which is exactly why the restrictions were introduced as a trial and not a permanent change. I'm disappointed that we have been unable to make it permanent, but given the response from motorists using the lanes as a cut through, it’s clear we need to look at providing more sustainable transport options, to relieve pressure on the A390 as well as supporting healthier, greener and more affordable ways of accessing services.”
Comments
Outraged. I dropped my daughters friend home last night who lives in these lanes to find the council have marked them up for repair. Why should my texts pay for these peoples private drives it’s disgusting. Their either closed and residents have to upkeep them or open to all.
As someone who lives on one of the busiest stretches of these lanes I too believe this trial has failed with drivers being faster and ruder than ever. Only in the past couple of months we have had people threatening violence towards us if we have had deliveries or farm traffic impacting their commute to work, destruction to our land and buildings with people driving too quickly and getting swerving out of the way of other traffic and on nearly a daily basis will either have someone driving too fast when out walking the dogs to which we have to get in very quickly for our safety. They are narrow lanes. They are not built for the sheer volume of traffic or commuters who try and use them hence the measures have been put in place.
I should not have to worry when I walk my dog outside my own home or wander why someone has pulled into my drive whilst chatting on their phone and then get abuse hurled at me for it or getting told I shouldn't be wheeling a wheelbarrow to fed my animals outside my own house. Before people moan they should think of their actions and how these affect others because even though this isn't everyone this is a large group of people.
Traffic calming measures need to be put in place to slow the traffic down.
I held off writing my comments on this scheme as I wanted to be 100% sure I had exhausted every other option to me on how to get to work but I now feel that the situation is getting ridiculous. I live near Summercourt but work in Truro and have to drop my three children at their childcare/primary school en route. They cannot be dropped before 8am and I am required to be teaching in Truro by 8.30am. The back lanes from Shortlanesend to the hospital were my usual route and I never found them to be particularly busy. Since the scheme has started I have tried staying on the A30 to Chiverton, which is often at a stand still and I presume only going to get worse as the works continue. I have also parked in Shortlanesend and cycled and run to work through the lanes. The feeling of vulnerability that I got whilst doing this was immense, the lanes are dark and slippery for a bike at 8am and 5pm and when running I did not feel safe at all as a woman on my own. In all the times that I have done this I have not once come across another cyclist or pedestrian. I do not understand why if there are sign posted roads available to the relatively small number of cars that use them that you would not let them be used. In my opinion closing those roads is a disaster waiting to happen, people are under pressure to get to work and being made to do things that make them feel unsafe.
I ask the council to send a female member to run those lanes at 5pm in December and ask her if she would like to do that every day?!
I think a timed closure could be a good alternative, allowing commuter traffic between 7-9am and 3-6pm.
As a business on Penventiinnie why were we not notified of the survey, despite receiving all other correspondence. Perhaps it was selectively notified and shared.
Hello,
I used these lanes to get from home to work each day until the roads were closed during this trial. I didn’t want to express my option until I had allowed myself to experience the new routes to work. I am a teacher. My husband is also a teacher. We have three school aged little boys.
We leave our home in Newquay very early, drop our three children at breakfast club and set off to our respective schools in Truro. Time is tight as the earliest we can drop our children is 7:45am and we then need to be teaching our own classes by 8:30am in Truro. I could just about make it by using the back roads up to Treliske. I now barely make it and sometimes don’t make it there in time. I never drive fast and it was a beautiful way to start each day driving under the trees. I occasionally got the chance to do a jog at lunch time around these lanes and I really loved that, it helped keep my mental health good through what has been an extremely hard few years of teaching. Since the roads have been closed, I have been so rushed during my working day, I haven’t ran during a lunch break once. So shutting the lanes have taken time away from me and I don’t get much time to myself with a job and family. Using the back lanes also allowed me to collect my children after an hour of them being in after school club. Since the lanes have been shut I often end up getting to them even later and this means we are paying more for their after school provisions.
I have tried all sorts of ways to cut the time down. Including driving to Shortlanesend and cycling through the lanes up to Treliske and into Truro. None of the ways I have tried are quick. It takes 50mins to 1hour 15mins each way. The traffic is horrendous going via Chiverton Cross and past Truro Sainsburys. It seems very unfair to shut the roads completely causing huge stress to many people that are trying to work and raise families. I know teachers, doctors and nurses who are now under extra stress every day. As are their children. There are no doubt many many people that this has negatively affected.
I cycled on a number of occasions and I still met cars so I couldn’t cycle fast and therefore it still took a while as it was 4km of cycling.
I can see you have sent out surveys, which is great. However, people like me that rush between home, kids, cooking, community work, evening lessons planning and marking etc, will possibly not have had a minute to find the forms and fill them in.
As a compromise, would it be possible to shut the lanes for 2-3 hours in the middle of the day for walkers? Would it be quiet anyway in the middle of the day as rush hour would be when the 200 cars were counted? Is 200 cars that bad? I live in Newquay and I’d love the roads to be quiet, but they are not. The residents in these lanes, do live in a city after all, perhaps if they are seeking peaceful lanes, they should move out of Truro a little way.
I really do hope you come to a compromise that works in some way for everyone. I am sure you have some strong options from the people that live on those lane, but the lanes are for everyone. Cornwall has miles and miles of lanes, they are our part of our culture. Part of the magical drive to work and back to home. Perhaps you could enforce speed restrictions if it’s the cars driving too fast that people don’t like.
I look forward to hearing the outcome of this trial and so hope we can drive this route in the future. Many thanks,
Mary Sparkes
Like most drivers who use this route often I have tried to be considerate and avoided using the route in the main but have not stopped altogether, depending on volume of traffic on the main roads - which is very often at ridiculous levels and would considerably increase the time taken to get to and from work.
I have to note that I have witnessed a decrease in the number of people using the quiet lanes at all in terms of walkers, cyclists etc and in fact since the trial began have not seen a single cyclist using these roads where you would see the odd one or two beforehand. This could be because of the season but would also indicate a general unwillingness to use these lanes at all for supposed 'leisure' purposes from nearby residents - certainly when weighed against use of the roads by drivers.
I would also confirm that all users I ever come across are courteous and use the roads in a considerate way with plenty of passing places - has the Council thought about installing a 20mph speed limit instead - surely this would help to slow traffic but also means the roads are still used as they were originally intended, as roads; for vehicles!?
Either way, the trial itself is benefitting no-one at present so I would recommend the Council stops it as soon as possible.
I had to use the lanes for access Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely sunny afternoon. I saw two people walking their dogs. There were no cyclists, runners, horse riders, or leisure walkers.
The increase in traffic on Kenwyn Road, Hendra Road etc is significant. Please end the trial but introduce measures to limit speeds on the lanes.
The trial has been a failure and the public have shown their derision by continuing to use the lanes and posting negative comments here.
Yet the project leaders and cohort are muttering about further impositions on motorists using the lanes. Staff redundancies, property disposal and Social Services on its knees yet money is being wasted on a tin pot scheme that the majority of lane users are against. Although central government funded, it still requires a high degree of rationale and justification, neither of which is being displayed here
What next ? The remaining funds used for further restrictions but who will pay for this going forward? Oh yes, the very motorists banned from the lanes via Council Tax and vehicle tax. Cornwall Council remove the blinkers and take a good hard look at the impression this
gives. Spending time and money on a pet project that is causing more hardship than benefit is not good service to the public. Listen to the people you are paid to serve and have the courage to admit this worthless project needs to be stopped.
This scheme is clearly not working. As a law abiding citizen it is adding 5 miles to my regular shopping trip to Truro - so not improving my carbon footprint or financial position.
I really struggle to see the benefit in a scheme which increases the mileage for so many people, especially given the very real concerns about global warming.
As a regular dog walker in the area I think that there is a reduction in traffic on some of the lanes - but this does not make it safer. In fact the speed of cars has increased and, since the change in designation of these lanes, drivers are being less careful and on several occasions I have been worried about traffic speeding. Only yesterday a vehicle came along a fairly straight stretch of the road without giving me or my dog a chance to find a safe place to get off the road. It was very scary. But this had never happened in the years before the green lanes were introduced - there may have been vehicles, but they were driven carefully and considerately on the lanes that I use.
And, at the same time, so many of the the lovely footpaths in the area have been impassable with brambles and other fast growing vegetation and with unkept stiles that are difficult to use. Whilst I understand that the funding for the green lanes is different from that used to maintain footpaths, keeping these historical footpaths in good order would encourage more people to exercise and enjoy the countryside.
How can the statement “without significantly impacting upon the A390 and B3284 “ hold up when there was no monitoring in Kenwyn Hill in May to make a comparison with. The B3284 feeds onto the A390 for onward travel to Highertown, Treliske and beyond. At least have the stats to support such a statement. Are the project leaders implying that all the comments left on this site regarding increases in traffic volume around Truro are a fantasy? As far as I have witnessed, as a daily walker of these lanes, there has been no noticeable increase in non motorised users since the instigation of this farce.
I have lived and worked in the area concerned for 60 years and the abuse I am getting from walkers and cyclists is shocking. I was gestured by a mature male walker whilst driving at 18 miles an hour near Little Canaan in order to get home and shouted at for driving along the lane. I was rudely gestured and sworn at by dog walkers near Shortlanesend and cyclists purposely riding very slowly in front of me to make a point near RoseworthyI have also been stopped by the police to ask why I was driving up the road to our property and whether I lived there. Why do I feel a criminal using roads I have used all of my life? Get rid of this scheme now and just adjust people's speed. We never asked for this scheme and we don't want it. Some of us are not snobs who live there which seems to be an argument that some people are using and is very hurtful.The delivery white vans now have carte blanche to speed even faster along our roads making them even more dangerous whilst my friends who live at Shortlanesend who just want to get to work at Treliske and have used the roads all of their lives are now treated as criminals if they are using it. I feel my civil liberties are being tested if I drive on the roads near our property and I hate it .
The trial has had minimal impact on increasing Cycling and walking.It has increased traffic on Kenwyn Hill which has been displaced from the quiet Lanes.
There needs to be urgent speed restrictions on Kenwyn Hill from before Truro Heights down the hill to Hendra road and the pedestrian crossing.This should be enforceable with average speed cameras.
The current restrictions on Comprigney hill should remain and be enforced by cameras.
The area of the Kenwyn valley is a difficult area to encourage more cycling and walking without as to enter and leave is very steep and difficult to access.
I have noticed a significant increase in the amount of traffic using Kenwyn Hill, especially in the morning and evening rush hours. Whilst walking or cycling the quiet lanes I have not seen a great decrease in the traffic using them. However, as before most drivers are careful and courteous. I have not seen any policing if use, so the restriction is of little value. Comprigney Hill was never a quiet lane, so I don't know why it was included in the scheme. As a local resident of Truro I did drive along these lanes occasionally to reach destinations, and consider I am paying my taxes to help upkeep and therefore use them.
What would have been a ten minute journey from Threemilestone to Shortlanesend now takes 50 minutes at 1600hrs. 40 minutes of sitting in mostly stationary traffic to travel two miles on the A390 in the middle of winter is ridiculous. This is purely due to the sheer volume of traffic. It is time to put this trial to bed and reinstate common sense.
In addition to my previous comment this trial must be extremely damaging to Penrose Water Lily restaurant, I don’t know if the restaurant is still open or what the situation is but if we can’t drive down the roads there is going to be an impact. It fair enough saying the restaurant would still have access but at times I’ve driven past and it’s prompted me to book a future date.
The retail stores next to the hospital I now avoid also as what used to be a short commute is now a mission.
This trial is adding an additional 15mins to my return journey, most of which is in stop still traffic. At rush hour it took me 45mins longer to get home, obviously using more fuel.
I live on a quiet lane in St Allen that links to shortlanesend. Outside our house it becomes literally like the A30 when the A30 is busy. Hundreds of cars past an hour, especially in summer months. This summer the cars were bumper to bumper and I couldn’t get to my house so had to leave my car at a neighbours and walk the remainder of the journey with a 5yr, 4yr and 5 week old. I have pictures. I don’t expect for the road where I live to be closed but if if the road on this trial is going to close then it should set a precedent for others. Not just one favoured over others.
We should be contributing to helping the environment but for a few gains of people walking a lot of commuting emissions is being added. We can’t commute via bike or walking with 3 small children in tow.
Put average speed cameras up if you need to slow people down.
Strongly would like to see this open again.
I regularly run on the section of lane from Park and Ride down to lane which leads to back of hospital. This morning at 8.30 am was typical, approx. 25 cars passed me which suggests that motorists are ignoring the signs. Most of the cars and vans kindly slowed down as they passed me, but several were in a hurry , driving really fast round the bends and on the narrow sections. I am not sure how you deal with this.
All the roads around Truro are busy. This is something we have to accept. I feel strongly that a public road which is funded by the public purse should be available for all to use. This should not be for the convenience of a few to the inconvenience of the many who fund these roads.
It is ridiculous and unfair to stop traffic on the quiet lanes as they are roads to getting to other places, this has seriously impacted on me and others that I know. It somehow makes the people who live on those lanes more important when cars driving too fast in other areas isn't considered an issue. Traffic is driving too fast, I agree, but they are not doing anything illegal. Instead I think that the speed limit should be 20mph rather than 60mph with speed bumps to slow down the cars. That way people driving too fast can be punished if necessary rather than just letting people who live on the lanes, use them.
It is dissapointing to see that this scheme is not linked to any useful support to encourage a step change in transportation methods. An Electric bike hire scheme would really give people a chance to realise there is a simple and easy alternative to taking up car space on the roads and support less polluting travel.
Did you know...
... that a third of journeys currently made by car are less than 5km long? Switching to walking and cycling where possible not only has great health benefits, but is also good for the environment !
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