Mr. Paul Hogan:

Absolutely. I was involved with the design manual for urban roads and streets going back to the beginning of it. Part of the motivation for it was the fact we had brought in across the board density standards for higher density residential development without addressing road standards. Road standards were based on the highway design manuals for fast, large roads and were not appropriate to residential or urban settings. We tried to bring in a load of lower speed requirements to make places safer and more enjoyable for people.

One of the biggest challenges goes back to what I said about why someone would want to live in a town. It is the feeling you are getting a benefit and it is safe. When you open your door, it might open onto a footpath, but it has to be somewhere you feel safe walking and HGVs and cars are not driving past at speed. Particularly for a family with kids, it is important.

Ms Vallone is operating this in a practical way and I am sure she can elaborate on the intention of the manual. Through town centre first and other updated urban guidance, we want to bring forward a complementary urban design manual for urban roads and streets, DMURS, that also addresses buildings, density and things like that. We are working on that.