Phase Two of Consultation

The first stage of consultation sought to identify a pattern of behaviour, asking people to think about the use of the town centre as opposed to simply focussing on car parking; this led to some interesting debate and conversations around the use of Market Square and the conflict of parking / vehicular movement and how that impacts on the quality of shopping and using the town centre.

Some headline findings are:

People enjoy the freedom, safety and opportunities afforded from pedestrianisation. This supported with over 1,500 individual comments around:

Full analysis of the results can be found here .

The Town Council was really encouraged by the responses received with the results of phase one helping to formulate the following desired options:

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OPTION 1

Complete pedestrianisation of Market Square

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OPTION 2

Part pedestrianisation of the Market Square. This would involve retention of the pedestrian area of Market Square but re-opening of King Street / part of Market Street to traffic (partially open the roads) - this option could allow for disabled cars to park along King Street

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OPTION 3

Reopening of all streets to traffic

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Both options 1 and 2 above have a number of variables that could be considered, for example: Road closures could be limited to certain days/times of the week and/or limited to certain periods of the year (for example April to October). If pedestrianisation was only in place limited times, the roads would be open for the remaining periods.

We are therefore asking you to please choose your preferred option below.

It is worth noting that; whatever the outcome, the current Tuesday and Saturday Markets will remain in place with NO changes and that the current temporary traffic road closure of the Market Square will remain until mid-January 2022 as advised by Government guidance. After this time, the roads will re-open, reverting back to pre-covid measures which will remain in place until any changes arising from this consultation.