Consultation on Whitehaven Town Centre Traffic

I attended a presentation to councillors yesterday evening on the consultation which Cumbria CC is currently carrying out on options for managing traffic flow in Whitehaven Town Centre.

The consultation runs until March. It will be presented to the public at several public meetings including:

South Whitehaven Neighbourhood Forum, 7pm this evening, Mirehouse Community Centre

Hillcrest & Hensingham Neighbourhood Forum, 6.30pm on 27th November, St John's Church Hensingham.

Bransty & Harbour Neighhourhood Forum, 7pm on 2nd December, The Legion, Bransty

There will also be an interactive exhibition at the URC Church, Market Place, from Thursday 20th November to Saturday 22nd November (Noon to 6pm Thursday to Friday, 9.30 am to noon on the Saturday) and an ongoing exhibition at the Danial Hay library in Lowther Street.

The public can email questions or comments to

whitehaven.traffic@cumbriacc.gov.uk

Essentially there are four options. Option one, the minimum change option, keeps broadly the same traffic flow but includes some enviromental and junction improvements, particularly the introduction of proper mini-roundabouts at the horrible junctions at George Street/Tangier Street and Duke Street/Church Street.

Options 2, 3, and 4 are much more radical, but all are variants on the idea of banning most traffic out of Lowther Street and Strand Street, and making most of the rest of the current ring road two-way, with a clockwise gyratory system involving the Northwestern part of Duke Street, Tangier Street, George Street, and the Northeast end of Church Street.

The aim is to get a broad public response now with a view to detailed design in about two years time and implementation in about 2012.

I would strongly urge all Whitehaven residents, businesses, and those who work or shop in the town to check out the consultation and let the County Council know your views.

Comments

Anonymous said…
How many consultations are needed Chris? This might be the first for you but nothing sensible ever happens.
The closure of Lowther Street was mooted decades ago to make the town centre more pedestrian friendly, but it's never even been tried. Within the last decade our Councils have only made things worse, Lowther Street is more dangerous than ever before by allowing parking on both sides of the street and the unofficial Bus Station.
If you want to encourage people in to the town you have to make it friendlier to them.
6:45 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
The more people take part in the consultation the more likely it is that a plan which will be adopted.

For what it's worth I have reservations about some of the details of all four options but I think the county is quite serious both about doing something and about listening to local opinion first.
10:29 pm
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