Widemarsh Street D-Day
Widemarsh Street could be fully pedestrianised before Easter if Councillors agree to back the scheme.
Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet is being recommended to support the pedestrianisation of the City Centre street, in Hereford, when it meets on Thursday, January 26.
In a detailed report, which describes the extensive consultation and monitoring that has taken place throughout the trial, members are being asked to make the trial scheme, launched last June, permanent.
If approved the road would be closed to all traffic between 10.30am – 4.30pm seven days a week and the speed limit remain at 20mph during all other times.
Recognising that the trial pedestrianisation has had an impact on many city centre users, Cabinet is being recommended to take forward an extensive package of additional improvements if the scheme is made permanent.
Amongst these improvements facilities for taxis, coaches and disabled drivers in other parts of the City Centre would be upgraded.
A study into how this could be achieved would start once a decision on the pedestrianisation scheme has been made.
In particular, the Council would look at ways to encourage more tourists to Hereford Cathedral by coach.
Other key recommendations, subject to detailed design, include replacing the gates in Widemarsh Street with automatically controlled rising bollards and modifying the traffic lights at the Newmarket/Blueschool Street/Widemarsh Street/Maylord Orchard junction to improve facilities for pedestrians.
One of the frequent complaints made during the trial was the number of drivers who continued to use Bewell Street to get into Widemarsh Street and High Street, the report says.
The Council is now proposing to stop this traffic by closing Bewell Street with bollards where it meets with Widemarsh Street. These bollards would operate in line with the closure of Widemarsh Street i.e. seven days a week between 10.30am – 4.30pm.
In the report, Cllr Brian Wilcox, Cabinet Member (Highways and Transportation) says: “Although many issues have been raised during consultation as disadvantages of the scheme, none of these in itself appears sufficient to justify abandoning the scheme.
“Several of the specific concerns could be addressed through subsequent studies and actions, such as the introduction of an experimental ban on traffic exiting Bewell Street into Widemarsh Street.
“On the evidence available, the advantages of the scheme appear to be significant in terms of improving the pedestrian and shopping environment."
The total costs for implementing pedestrianisation is estimated at just over £250,000.
Other options available to councillors are: abandoning the scheme and reverting Widemarsh Street back to its former status and, retain or modify the trial scheme.
As part of last year’s six-month trial pedestrianisation, held between June – December 2005, an extensive consultation was launched seeking the views of residents, visitors, shoppers, businesses and other key stakeholders and interested parties.
This extensive consultation and monitoring period included face-to-face interviews with the public, 750 questionnaires circulated to city centre retailers and business premises and, a public questionnaire distributed in the November edition of Herefordshire Matters received by all households in the county (about 80,000). Nearly 2,500 responses were received overall.
Other forms of consultation were: meetings with stakeholder groups and statutory bodies, a retail assessment by specialist consultants, traffic surveys, monitoring of car park income, monitoring of visitor numbers, an air quality survey and a review of accident data on the ring road and surrounding highways
