High Street crossing – proposal ‘put on hold’

Councillors at last night’s (Monday 27 February) meeting of the Town Council Planning Committee voted to put the latest proposal for a crossing in the High Street on hold.

Not to do away with it, rather that the current plan, which would see the crossing sited between where Nationwide is sited on the North side – using the and enlarging the existing ‘build out’ – to a point beside the archway to Alma Place on the South of the High Street (see map below) is being reviewed.

A variety of reasons were cited for this hiatus in the High Street crossing programme, not least the loss of car parking – estimated at thirteen spaces top, bottom and middle – and the adoption of a more ‘holistic’ approach to the High Street in general where consultation can be carried out and a proposal deemed more equitable and apposite to the street can be formulated, agreed and created.

So it’s not a ‘no’, more of a ‘what’ and ‘where’ process and decision. The Working Party for the High Street see this as top priority, as the street is a combination of retail, leisure, traffic – but each of these elements featuring people and pedestrians at the core. Safety – definitely but usage as well, and accessible and available parking features there strongly.