At an ‘Extraordinary’ meeting last night (Tuesday 5 May) of the Town Council Planning Committee, Councillors were presented with and then asked to comment on and make a preferenced ranking of a range of ‘short term’ measures for the High Street area. Created by the Town Centre Working Party with help from a team of external consultants – PJA. This is the start.
The Working Party also has a range of ‘Medium Term’ measures, and ‘Long Term’ measures which will be discussed in later sessions. This is about a ‘Vision’ for the Town Centre which has remained largely untouched for decades. Everything has moved on, but the High Street isn’t very different to how it was in the nineteen fifties.
Whilst there have been numerous individual suggestions and projects over the years there has been no overall homogeneous consideration of how the area could and should evolve in the future, to reflect contemporary life. This ‘project’ is there to address this wider task. Important for the present, but vital for the decades to come.
The High Street area is the centre of Marlborough. It is where most who visit the town will aim for. Whilst The Parade, with the Cinema, Little Gallery, Katharine House and more may be the ‘cultural centre’ of Marlborough, it’s the High Street that most residents and visitors see as ‘Marlborough’.
This is first stage of the project is just one element of the evolution of the High Street over the coming years. At present, no budget, so thankfully likely to avoid the eternal LHFIG morass. And this, along with any eventual preferred Medium Term and Long Term options will aim to be covered by grant funding. That can only be quicker than LHFIG, even though the application process won’t be fast.
What was the Councillors preferred option? The most popular of these ‘Short Term’ options was the creation of a crossing at the bottom of Kingsbury Street, on the corner where Patten Alley emerges from Between ‘Dress’ and ‘Franklyns’ so that anyone walking either through Patten Alley, or up the steps by the rear of the Town Hall (having crossed on the Zebra Crossing by The Bear’) can get to the North side of the High Street in safety. It also might act as a ‘moderator’ for drivers who might otherwise take that corner too fast or in the middle of the road. Make then think.
The next two were – in order of preference – S8 – Town Hall Pedestrian Access (left) and S1 – High St Crossing Improvements (right)
There were several (seven) more, maybe one or some of these will get reconsidered and if so, this will be reported. The next tier of measures are the ‘Medium Term’ tranche, and then the ‘Long Term’ ideas. These will be discussed, evaluated and considered by Councillors in the not-too-distant future.
Overall this project being managed and driven by Cllrs Kelvyn Shantry and Caroline Sadler and is designed to bring the entire town centre up to a standard that embraces all users. A standard that is attractive and appealing, but above all that works. This project has echoes of what (the late) Ben Hamilton-Baillie believed and specialised in. He was a visionary. An architect, urban designer and movement specialist, described as “the leading international expert on the development of shared space”. ‘Shared Space’ is about reflecting and managing the needs of us all, in any space that we inhabit be it urban or rural. We might be on foot, in a car, on a bike but we will all be needing to move around safely, effectively and ideally in a pleasant environment.
Ben did some consultancy work in our area, he also came up with suggestions for the A4 between Marlborough and Beckhampton, which is at present a dangerous area and now under the spotlight. Unfortunately he passed away before any of his ideas could translate into inspired projects but for that area he recognised that if we have any involvement with that road, we are stakeholders and as such the environment of that road area should reflect all of our needs.
Many youngsters turn up to the Rec for the Sports Festival
