Widemarsh Street pedestrianised
Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet gave the scheme to pedestrianise Widemarsh Street the go-ahead when it met on Thursday, January 26.
Under pedestrianisation, Widemarsh Street and High Street will be closed to ALL traffic seven days a week between 10.30am – 4.30pm.
At the moment these arrangements have been suspended while work to repave High Street is carried out.
During these works, which are expected to be completed in the early spring, High Street will be closed to traffic and Widemarsh Street will only be open for access by delivery vehicles and taxis.
In May, some further disruption is likely to be caused during the refurbishment works in High Town.
Recognising that the trial pedestrianisation has had an impact on many city centre users, Cabinet agreed to take forward an extensive package of additional improvements to address their concerns.
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 may be achieved will start almost immediately.
In particular, the Council will 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 Council will stop this traffic by closing Bewell Street with bollards where it meets with Widemarsh Street.
No traffic (including cyclists), except for emergency vehicles, will have access during this six hour closure.
These bollards would operate in line with the closure of Widemarsh Street i.e. seven days a week between 10.30am – 4.30pm.
Alterations will also be made to the junction of West Street and Broad Street to allow better access for coaches.
The total costs for implementing pedestrianisation is estimated at just over £250,000.
Cllr Brian Wilcox, Cabinet Member (Highways and Transportation) said: “The pedestrianisation of Widemarsh Street marks a significant shift for the City Centre, and with that change comes many new opportunities for businesses, visitors, shoppers and other stakeholders to further enhance Hereford.
“I believe we are creating a better, more pleasant city centre atmosphere for the enjoyment of everyone.”
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
