Irthlingborough Pedestrian Counts
Background
Irthlingborough has already seen a significant amount of residential development since 2001 and further residential growth is planned to support projects in the town. East Northamptonshire Council is embarking on significant improvements to Irthlingborough town centre to provide a focal point, attract more visitors and benefit the local economy.
The centre developments are focussed around High Street, between Market Cross and the library. These developments include the restoration and enhancement of the Spinney Field Rest Garden and the creation of a new Town Square.
The Council wanted to ascertain the impact of this development on usage by means of pedestrian flow counts and commissioned NEMS to undertake the study.
Methodology
The study was concentrated along High Street, the main focus of the planned developments. Sampling points were selected that would accurately assess the pedestrian flow.
Pedestrian counts (in both directions) were made for a period of 10 minutes at each point before moving onto the next, except for the count at Spinney Field Rest Garden which was a simple head count.
The counts were conducted between 9am and 6pm. Counts were conducted on three days during 1 week.
Results
In addition to the details of the pedestrian flow counts, the survey work was constructed to enable three summary analyses to be conducted, allowing easy comparisons to be made with future follow-up studies. These three summary analyses were as follows:
- Distribution of pedestrian traffic along High Street – examining the average pedestrian count at each of the sampling points to show the busier and quieter areas.
- Usage by time of day – by banding count data together by complete count rounds, the usage of High Street at different times of day was assessed.
- Usage of Spinney Field Rest Garden.
Benefits
The study provided a quantified measure of the usage of Irthlingborough facilities and the flow of pedestrian traffic through the town. This provides a valuable benchmark with which to compare on the completion of the planned redevelopments.