Public express their views on town centre traffic

* People gather at the drop-in session outside the Town Hall yesterday.

The public have given their views on the future of traffic management in Llangollen.

A stream of people expressed their opinions to consultants who ran a drop-in session outside the Town Hall yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.

Representatives from Arcadis (Consulting) are currently looking at traffic issues in the area with financial support from Cadwyn Clwyd, the Welsh Government, the European Union Rural Development Fund, Denbighshire County Council, Llangollen Town Council and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

Interested parties were invited to write down their suggestions to solve congestion and improve traffic flow on post-it notes and then fix them to a large map of the town centre spread out on a table.

llanblogger took a note of some of the suggestions which included:

* “Underground car park or @ pavilion”

* “Make parking regulations at Aldi/Home Bargains car park clear for local shoppers and not just Aldi/HB”

* There were a number of post-it notes concerned with parking along Castle Street, including “Stop parking on Castle Street between 10.00 – 16.00. This would avoid congestion but still allow parking for disabled”

* “Unrealistic but cover Oak Street and make it pedestrian only street”

* “Multi-storey car park at Smithfield 1 down 1 ground 1up”

* “Roundabout at A5/Castle Street”

* “Demolish the old Smithfield pub remove old prison and rebuild it elsewhere. Build a roundabout in this area. Perfect”

Llangollen county councillor Graham Timms, who was at the drop-in session, said it had been a worthwhile exercise.   

He said earlier: “Arcadis are in the process of speaking to residents, businesses and visitors before they start to draw up their suggestions to make the town better for all.

“The event gave the opportunity for everyone to voice their opinions on problems in the centre of the town and how they might be improved.

“Last Friday and Saturday Arcadis carried out a survey at three major junctions - Castle Street/Abbey Road, Castle Street/A5 Regent Street and Market Street/A5 Berwyn Road. 

“The video evidence will be analysed by Arcadis using computer modelling to help them to better understand the issues with congestion and traffic flow through the town.

“We're expecting a further consultation in the late summer on the ideas that Arcadis put forward. A final report will be produced for the end of September 2018.

“The Llangollen 2020 working group wants to ensure that everyone can take part before the planning phase begins.”

As part of the same exercise local people are being encouraged to take part in an online survey which can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Llangollen2020

There will also be Facetime sessions, details of which are due to be given on social media. 

* The public's ideas were written on post-it notes and stuck on a map of the town centre.

Some of the notes are pictured below.