By Beth Doherty
A Wiltshire Council project plans to cut off through-traffic from the city centre beginning in September.
The People-friendly Streets project gives priority to walking and cycling at certain times of the day, with access to the city centre restricted to emergency vehicles, buses, taxis and tourist coaches only. Currently, 50% of vehicles in the city centre are through-traffic, and vehicles spend less than 15 minutes in the centre.
Exact details of the project are to be finalised but the plan includes Castle Street, Blue Boar Row, Endless Street, Winchester Street, Brown Street, Milford Street, New Canal, High Street, Bridge Street, Fisherton Street, Silver Street, Minster Street and Avon Approach.
The city will be broken into sectors with entry and exit points allowing access areas to the city. Investigating the scheme further, New Valley News inquired about the access to car parks in Salisbury and found that they will remain accessible through the exit and entry points.
Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “This People-Friendly Salisbury project will transform the central area of the city, giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists, aiding social distancing and, in turn, hopefully improving footfall for businesses.
“It will also improve air quality in the city, and will help with our pledge to make Wiltshire Council carbon neutral by 2030, and supporting Wiltshire to do the same.”
“The changes are subject to an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), which allows for tweaks to the scheme, so we’d welcome feedback as the scheme progresses.”
An 18-month trial for the scheme begins early in September, and during this time, Wiltshire Council is open to feedback from the public.
“Our teams are working on creating the designs for the scheme, which we hope to have in place in mid-July when we’ll accept comments for two weeks before work starts on the project in the autumn,” Cllr Wayman added.
Leader of Salisbury City Council Cllr Jeremy Nettle said: “This is a huge opportunity to trial something very different in the city as it re-opens after coronavirus.
“There may well be problems, particularly around displacement of traffic on to the ring road, and potential ‘rat-runs’. However, I am encouraged that this is an experimental trial that enables tweaks and adjustments, while potentially radically improving pedestrianisation and air quality in our beautiful city.
“I firmly believe we need to take advantage of this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity and together make it work for the city. I have to see more details of the scheme, and look forward to having the chance to give feedback and would encourage others to do so.”
The concept of People Friendly Salisbury has been subject to some consultation as part of the Salisbury Central Area Framework (CAF) consultation, in 2019, and the Salisbury Transport Strategy (STS) refresh, in 2018.