Llangollen
people have been given their first look at a £2 million blueprint for the
future shape of the town centre.
Consultants
firm Arcadis, which has been hired to find solutions for the area’s traffic
problems, hosted two briefing sessions – one outside the Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday)
afternoon and the other inside the building in the evening – where it unveiled
its vision for how things could look by 2020.
While
this is still subject to consultation and amendment before the final version is
presented at the end of next month, proposals include a new mini traffic island
at the Abbey Road end of the famous bridge, the partial pedestrianisation of
Market Street and the removal of parking bays along Castle Street.
While
a steady stream of interested people turned up at the four-hour daytime
briefing session less than 30 members of the public, including residents and business
owners, attended the hour-long evening event.
Alison
Powell of Arcadis (pictured below) explained that the feasibility and scoping study being
presented was a collection of ideas and suggestions which at this stage had no
official status.
“We
have been trying to work out what is technical and feasible in terms of
solutions,” she said.
“Our
aim is to create a high quality town centre environment which is attractive,
safe and provides usable public space for a range of users and activities.”
Problems
identified by her team around Castle Street, she said, was a conflict between
pedestrians and traffic flow at the Abbey Road and A5 junctions, both of which
were at or near capacity, the obstacles of parked cars, narrow pavements and general east/west traffic flows. In
a bid to find solutions Arcadis looked at various forms of traffic modelling and
examples of best practice in other areas of Britain.
An
on-street public consultation exercise by the team in July, she revealed, had
seen 300 responses submitted and Arcadis had also sounded out businesses, the
Chamber of Trade and stakeholders including the Pavilion and the railway.
Chief
complaints about Castle Street this had thrown up were the volume of traffic
(74%), parking at the roadside (72%) and the lack of pedestrian crossings
(56%).
Proposals
for improvement include:
* Directional
signs on the main roads into town aimed at diverting HGVs away from Llangollen.
* Pavements
on the western side of Castle Street being widened.
* The
creation of two pedestrian crossing points, on slightly raised sections of
roadway, on the main street – one outside the library.
* The
removal of street “clutter”, such as repeated signage, on the street.
* A
slight reduction in the width of the carriageway on Castle Street.
* More
tree planting along the street.
Major
proposals include the creation of a mini roundabout at the Abbey Road end of
the bridge and the stopping up of Market Street from Castle Street back to
Greenfield.
This
partial pedestrianisation would mean that buses coming into town will have to
instead reach Parade Street via the A5 and the top end of Market Street.
Alison
Powell said there would still be access to properties along Market Street but
the stopping up might allow for the market to move off the nearby car park and into the street,
freeing up valuable parking spaces.
Parking
spaces would also be removed from the section of Abbey Road immediately
opposite the bridge to allow for the roundabout to be put in.
On
the sensitive issue of parking, she said proposals were to reduce the number of
long-stay spaces on the Market Street car park presently used by residents
using permits therefore producing more short-stay spaces, the removal of
parking spaces on Castle Street and having visiting coaches dropping off and
picking up on Market Street car park while actually parking up at the Pavilion.
A
limited number of disabled parking bays would be created in Bridge Street and
Oak Street.
Next
steps in the 2020 process before the final draft is published at the end of
November, she explained, were a review of latest feedback, further research on
what could be done to ease traffic problems at the Castle Street/A5 junction –
a couple of options for this were in mind, she said – and estimations of the costs
and economic impact of the proposals.
A
question and answer session brought out a number of points, mainly on parking.
These included:
* Concern
by a B&B owner about her guests being able to find long-stay parking.
Alison Powell said the aim was to accommodate all needs.
* Whether
coaches would be put off by not being
able to park on Market Street. To this she answered that research by Arcadis
had shown that was unlikely.
* Whether
cars would stop to allow people to use the new crossing points. AlisonPowell said: “In other places that have
these cars do stop.”
* Why
a narrower carriageway on Castle Street was necessary on top of removing
parking on the street. “We need to do something additional to slow down the
traffic,” she replied.
Graham
Timms, one of the county councillors for Llangollen and chair of the 2020
working group, said: “The needs of businesses, residents and visitors have to
be balanced to make the town centre work better for everyone.”
He
said the overall cost of the 2020 scheme would be around £2 million. If
eventually approved, half a million pounds of this would come from Denbighshire,
between £160,000 and £200,000 from the Welsh Government with a “range of other
options” being explored for the remainder.
Cllr
Timms revealed a number of other moves were being considered to alleviate the
parking situation.
These
included freeing up more spaces for short-term use by asking the owners of parking
areas such as St Collen’s and inside the Pavilion grounds if they will allow
these to be used by people working in the town centre so visitors can use the
spaces they would normally occupy.
Later
Cllr Timms said: “Arcadis is putting forward new and
innovative solutions to some longstanding traffic problems in Llangollen.
“The Abbey Road/Castle Street junction usually
operates at capacity and on busy days it simply can’t take the volume of
traffic, causing tailbacks in all directions.
“This also applies to the junction at the other end
of Castle Street controlled by traffic lights onto the A5, where improvements
to the light sequence and improved pedestrian crossing points will also lead to
the traffic flowing more freely.
“The report also suggests the creation of a
pedestrian zone on Market Street banning traffic from entering or leaving the
main Castle Street. The consultants say that removing traffic from this area will
help with traffic flow by removing the obstructions caused by large vehicles
turning at this junction.
Llangollen’s other county councillor, Melvyn Mile,
said: “Denbighshire County Council has already agreed to make an initial
contribution of £½million towards the project and further funding is being
actively pursued by the Llangollen 2020 group.
“Llangollen has the second highest footfall in
Denbighshire during August, closely following Rhyl, whilst beating Prestatyn,
Denbigh and other tourist hotspots within the county. But traffic chaos and
parking misery have been an increasing problem in a town which we believe is
the jewel in the crown of Denbighshire’s heartlands.”
* The Arcadis study was instigated by the Llangollen 2020
group that was formed in October 2017. The initial team comprised of
Llangollen’s two county councillors, two town councillors and representatives
from the Chamber of Trade.
The study has been jointly funded by a range of
partners including Cadwyn Clwyd, Welsh Government, European Union, Denbighshire
County Council, Llangollen Town Council and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
