When planners and policy makers describe neighbourhoods where different facilities can easily be reached from home they call them “20 minute neighbourhoods”. The idea is that people should be able to meet their daily needs within a walk or cycle ride of 20 minutes or less. We wondered how many households in Alnwick are already reaping the benefits that 20 minute neighbourhoods promise.
- Enabling people to be more active improves mental and physical health.
- Reducing traffic levels means less congestion, better air quality and contributes to climate action.
- A town’s economy is stronger when local shops and businesses thrive.
- Higher values are placed on properties where people enjoy a better quality of life.
- Access to public transport and a decent infrastructure for walking and cycling mean that anyone without access to a car is less isolated.
- Communities are stronger where neighbours see more of each other.
In a larger town people are more likely to reach different facilities on a bicycle or public transport, but we could cycle across Alnwick within ten minutes or so, and more than two-thirds of Alnwick households are within a few minutes of a bus stop. So to keep things simple, we have concentrated on walking.
We looked for areas of Alnwick where different everyday needs can be met with a walk of ten minutes there and ten minutes back.
Which facilities would you want to be most accessible from home? Every community is different, so there isn’t a single model of what should be considered as part of a 20 minute neighbourhood. We looked at:
- Places of work
- Financial services
- Retail: Supermarkets and Post Offices
- Services: Barbers and Hairdressers
- Education: Primary and Secondary schools
- Health services: Doctors, Pharmacy, and Opticians
- Leisure: Play Areas, Sports Fields and Pubs
Places of work
At the time of the 2011 census 11% of those in Alnwick who worked were working from home. Of those working away from home, 10% were travelling on foot. The 2021 census was taken during Covid lockdown, so the figures are not really comparable. However, at that time around 20% said then that they were working from home. Of those working away from home, almost 50% said they had a journey of less than 2km and 22% were travelling on foot.
We estimate that places of work near the town centre can be reached in a ten minute walk by roughly one Alnwick household in four. About half of Alnwick households are within a 10 minute walk of one of the main employment locations, and more than 90% of Alnwick households are within a 20 minute walk.
Financial services
The centre of our town has a compact structure that dates from a time when most journeys were made on foot. It is striking, for example, that every bank can be reached in a ten minute walk from almost any 19th century building in Alnwick. However, almost all of Alnwick’s 20th century housing is more than ten minutes walk from a bank.
Retail
More than two-thirds of Alnwick households are within a ten minute walk of one of the supermarkets, and almost two-thirds within a ten minute walk of a Post Office.
Different approaches might be taken to the way we estimate the distances to a nearby food shop. Almost 80% of households are within a ten minute walk of a convenience store or supermarnet, and 70% within the wider range stocked by a supermarket.
Services
Women of Alnwick face longer walks than men to get their hair done. 54% of households are within a ten minute walk of a hairdresser, compared to 64% within a ten minute walk of a barber. If they are prepared to walk for 20 minutes then pretty much every man in Alnwick can reach a barber and 95% of women can reach a hairdresser.
Education
Primary Schools are well-distributed across the town. Almost three in every four households are within a ten minute walk, and almot all within a twenty minute walk. However, Secondary School pupils face longer journeys. Less than half of households are within a twenty minute walk of DCHS, and parts of Barresdale and Chapel Lands are more than 30 minutes walk away.
Health services
Slightly more than one in four of households are within a ten minute walk of a Doctor, and more than one in three within ten minutes of a Pharmacy or Optician. Pharmacies and Opticians cover a similar area, near the centre of town. Doctors can be reached more easily from the eastern side of town than they can from housing to the south and west.
Dentist’s surgeries are distributed more widely so they can be reached in a short walk by more than two households in three.
Leisure
Children’s Play Areas are well distributed: more than 90% of households have at least one within a ten minute walk, and a third of households are able to reach the largest, in Swansfield Park, with a 10 minute walk. Barresdale is within a ten minute walk of one in three households. The only significant overlap of coverage is between Glover’s Green and Bull Field.
Many of Alnwick’s households live within a ten minute walk of one of Alnwick’s sports grounds. Each of the sports grounds is within walking distance of about one in four households. The Tennis Courts are most widely accessible, having more than one in three households within a ten minute walk. The Bowling Green is more accessible from the north-west of town. Hardly anyone lives within a ten minute walk of the golf course. Other grounds are most accessible from the south of town.
More than three in every four households in Alnwick are within a ten minute walk of at least one pub. Visitors who stay in the town centre have a choice of around 15 pubs within a ten minute walk.
So it’s reassuring to discover that anyone in the centre of Alnwick who needs a Public Convenience should be able to find one within a five minute walk.
(note – estimates updated on 13/2/2023 to better account for how housing densities vary across the town)
Alnwick Civic Society 