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Objectives

Walking

• Improve facilities for all pedestrians (including disabled people) across Henley-on-Thames through developing good clear routes from residential areas to the town centre and other services and facilities
• Make sure that urban links join up with rights of way.

Cycling

• Ensure that the best cycle routes from residential areas to local services, schools, employment areas and the town centre are publicised.
• Provide good quality cycle stands at key destinations, and appropriate infrastructure where required along key routes from the town centre to employment and educational facilities.

Public transport

• Work with local bus companies to improve and develop bus services on existing routes and new routes in order to increase accessibility to / from Henley-on-Thames to key destinations further afield, and to secure increased accessibility to education and employment.

Promoting travel choice

• Work with organisations and businesses to reduce the occurrence of congestion and its impact.
• Support suitable information provision and platforms (such as car sharing) to reduce the need to travel and inefficient car use.

Traffic management

• Make best use of existing road space through careful planning, working with partners and utilisation of technology.

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Strategy

A new strategy has been developed for Henley-on-Thames as part of the third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) which runs from 2011 to 2030.

The area strategy focuses on developing and increasing cycling and walking around the town to reduce congestion as well as improving the condition of roads, footways and cycleways to encourage more people to choose a more sustainable method of travel. Due to the environmental benefits, the use of low emission vehicles will be promoted and encouraged as they become available.

This area strategy replaces the Henley-on-Thames Integrated Transport Strategy (HenITS) 2004/2005. The new area strategy incorporates some of the measures previously identified in HenITS. Planning obligation contributions, secured in order to mitigate the impacts of development, towards HenITS will be able to be used on the LTP3 Henley-on-Thames Area Strategy and be in accordance with the planning obligations.

Read more about how the LTP3 was developed.

Henley-on-Thames is classed as one of Oxfordshire's smaller towns as it has a population of approximately 10,000. An area transport strategy has been developed for this town to not only follow on from the previous HenITS but also to support the growth the town will experience over the next 20 years.

• Henley-on-Thames Area Strategy (pdf format, 324 KB)

Air Quality Management Area (AQMA)

Henley-on-Thames has an AQMA declared in the town centre. You can find details of the AQMA and air quality in Henley-on-Thames on South Oxfordshire District Council's website.

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History

The Henley-on-Thames Integrated Transport Strategy (HenITS) was the previous plan for Henley-on-Thames, and has now been replaced by the Henley-on-Thames Area Strategy.

Development of HenITS

The Henley-on-Thames Integrated Transport Strategy (HenITS) was made up of a series of three strategies:

• short to medium-term strategy
• parking strategy
• long-term strategy

The overall vision for Henley-on-Thames was:

"Aimed at reducing or eliminating the adverse effects of traffic and creating a town centre which is dominated by the needs of the pedestrian rather than the motor vehicle."

Short to medium-term strategy

In March 2003, Oxfordshire County Council commissioned consultants Halcrow to produce an Integrated Transport Strategy for Henley-on-Thames for the short to medium-term. The strategy was agreed by Oxfordshire County Council and endorsed by South Oxfordshire District Council and Henley-on-Thames Town Council in March / April 2004. It contained a series of proposals to improve the existing transport problems and better manage the flow of traffic through the town centre for the 2005 - 2011 period.

The short to medium-term transport strategy set out a number of steps to be undertaken to achieve the short to medium objectives, which were delivered between 2005 and 2009.

Step 1

To meet the 'vision' for Henley-on-Thames, a traffic management system to regulate the traffic entering the town centre and to manage the town centre queue lengths was implemented. The main elements of the town centre scheme were:

• making Duke Street one-way northbound
• refurbishing the signal equipment at the existing signal junctions
• introducing an intelligent system to monitor and manage traffic flows / queues (SCOOT)
• converting the mini roundabout junction at Station Road / Reading Road to a signal controlled junction
• introducing pedestrian crossing facilities at the main junctions.

Step 2

In order to reduce the impact of motor vehicles and to create a more pleasant town environment, improvements to the street environment of the town centre were completed in April 2009. These changes were:

• more footway space provided on Duke Street and Bell Street
• high quality materials to enhance the streetscape and preserve its designation as a conservation area
• reduction in street furniture
• dedicated loading bays introduced on Duke Street and Bell Street

The benefits of these changes were:

• better access for pedestrians and vulnerable users
• controlled means for pedestrians and vulnerable persons to cross the roads
• a reduction in road width, which encourages drivers to be cautious and reduce speed
• improvement of the overall quality of the environment, which encourages people to the area and led to a more vibrant town centre

Parking strategy

The parking strategy was commissioned following the completion of the Henley-on-Thames short to medium-term strategy. The report was completed in March 2005 and provided a framework that could be used as a basis to guide changes to parking.

The Parking Study Final Stage Report set out a parking hierarchy covering all aspects of parking. It recommended that it be used to provide some structure in terms of duration of stay, pricing and management of parking in the town, on-street.

Long-term strategy

Halcrow was commissioned to undertake the long-term strategy study in May 2004. The study report took a longer term view of traffic problems and issues in Henley-on-Thames, building on work undertaken for the short to medium-term strategy.

The longer term strategy report did not make specific recommendations. Instead, it set out the issues and formed a reference document for the future. The overall philosophy of the study was to consider a range of 'what if...' scenarios to better understand the way in which various potential approaches to the predicted future traffic problems and issues would affect the town.

Further documents

If you would like to request hard copies of the HenITS reports and monitoring reports, produced between 2003 and 2008, please email lts.team@oxfordshire.gov.uk