That’s the view of local county
councillor Graham Timms who chairs the committee which is masterminding the
Llangollen 2020 project.
The draft feasibility study, which runs
to 79 pages, has been prepared with data crunched by consultants Arcadis and
feedback gleaned from public consultation exercises last year.
Cllr Timms recently updated town
councillors on the project and has given a further insight to llanblogger.
2020 aims to develop options for a
safer and pedestrian-friendly town centre with streamlined traffic flow and
come up with options to ease the parking situation.
Main proposals in the report for
further consideration are:
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The closure of Market Street to traffic coming in and out of Castle Street
+
The creation of a mini roundabout at the junction of Castle Street and the A539
+
Short stay parking spaces removed from Castle Street and replaced with goods
only loading bays
+
The narrowing of Castle Street
+
Long stay permits no longer able to be used on Market Street car park at
certain times
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No new junction at Market Street/A5/Hall Street
+
Summer park and ride scheme ruled out
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Ysgol Dinas Bran car park to be used during August by local businesses and
staff
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The Pavilion car park to be used by coaches between dropping off and picking up
passengers in town centre
The report says: “There is a
significant opportunity to improve the public realm and the environment for
pedestrians within Llangollen, through making the town centre and in particular
Castle Street more pedestrian friendly and taking steps to reduce the dominance
of the vehicular traffic …
“Following
the appraisal of options, it is considered that closure of Market Street at the junction with
Castle Street is explored in greater detail.
“Market Street would be closed to
vehicular traffic entering and exiting onto/from Castle Street. At present the
movement of vehicles into and out of Market Street causes conflict, which in
turn impacts on the movement of traffic on Castle Street in both directions.
This is particularly the case when coaches are entering and exiting Castle
Street at the same time.
“A modification to the Market Street/
A5/ Hall Street junction layout has been considered however, as the junction is
observed to operate within capacity in both the base year 2018 and the design
year 2023 and it is not considered that orthodox roundabouts would be viable
due to cross-section constraints, hence no junctions modifications are proposed
at this location at this stage.”
On Castle Street the report says: “It
is proposed that the existing short stay - 30 minute waiting time with no
return within 30 minutes - spaces would be removed with the loss of
approximately 13 spaces.”
It adds: “These
car parking spaces are in prime location adjacent to the majority of shops and
services. However, from our engagement days with members of public during the
first round of consultation, these car parking spaces were seen by some to
offer an excellent facility whilst others said they had difficulty finding a
free space and cars accessing and egressing the spaces had a negative impact on
the flow of traffic along Castle Street.
“It is
acknowledged that the loss of these spaces has an adverse impact on some users,
however a range of complementary measures are proposed to minimise the impact
on the local community and business.
“It is
proposed that the on-street parking bays would be replaced with Goods Only
Loading Bays.
“Goods
Only bays would enable only goods vehicles collecting and delivering materials
to be able to use the bays, which could then be enforced by DCC’s Enforcement
Officers.
“It is
proposed that two bays measuring 2.5m wide by 12m long would be implemented in
similar locations to the existing parking bays. The purpose of providing the
dedicated bays is to minimise the disruption deliveries have on the town centre
and improve deliveries/ collections to/from shops and businesses.”
The report
suggests two narrow vehicle lanes of uniform width along the entire length of
Castle Street.
It says:
“Denbighshire County Council have confirmed they are happy in principle with
narrowing the width of Castle Street to 5.5m. The provision of narrow lanes and
a median strip has the potential to reduce vehicle speeds, this would further
be enhanced by the implementation of two raised pedestrian crossings.
“A wider
crossing point would be provided in front of the Town Hall, as from our on-site
observations is considered to be a desire line for pedestrians to cross Castle
Street in this location.
Additionally, a second crossing point on Castle Street
is proposed part way between the Market Street and the A5.”
It adds:
“A mini-roundabout is proposed at the A539/ Castle Street/ A542 junction. This
has the potential to improve the junction capacity, reduce vehicle delay and
queuing. It is envisaged that this would be a paved mini-roundabout, designed
and delivered to be in keeping with public realm improvements delivered across
the town centre.”
Later, the
report says: “As the on-street short-stay car parking spaces along Castle
Street are proposed to be removed, several existing on-street parking spaces on
Oak Street and Bridge Street are proposed to be designated disabled parking
bays, in order to ensure there is availability of parking for those that need
it within close proximity of Castle Street.”
The report
goes on: “The option to develop a park and ride scheme during the summer months
has been considered as part of this study, however at this stage it is
considered that such an option would not be financially viable, but this does
not mean that at another point in the future this option should not be
considered again.”
Arcadis
consulted Ysgol Dinas Bran on the possibility of using its car park during the
month of August, and the report says: “In principle the school is content for
the school car park to be used during the month the school is closed (August).
It is proposed that this car park could provide additional spaces for local
business and their staff to use, thus freeing up the council operated and
maintained car parks within the town centre for visitors.”
On the Market
Street car park, the report proposes its redesignation as
short-stay.
It
says: “This would enable a higher turnover of car parking spaces through the
removal of vehicles that are parked for long periods of time, thus enabling a
greater number of vehicles to use and benefit from the centrally based car
park.
“This
would however mean that the use of the long stay permits would no longer be
able to be used in this car park and thus workers who wish to use this car
park, would have to park in the other long stay car parks in the town.
“It
is recommended that detailed discussions are had with DCC officers to consider
whether it would be possible for the designation of Market Street to be
seasonal, i.e. it is considered a long stay car park during the winter months
when visitors numbers are lower and demand for spaces is lower and a short stay
car park in the summer months when there is greater demand for car parking
spaces.
“As
the short stay car parking spaces are proposed to be removed from Castle
Street, further consideration could be given to provide users of the Market
Street car park with 30 minutes free parking, as not to discourage those
shoppers who would have otherwise used the spaces on Castle Street from
visiting the town.”
The Arcadis study also proposes
that the number of coach spaces at the Market Street car park is reduced, in
order to provide about 30 more spaces for both tourists and local people.
Another suggestion is that the Pavilion
car park could be used for coaches to wait between dropping and picking up
passengers at the Market Street car park.
The report says: “It is acknowledged
that this would increase the number of coach movements within the town centre,
as coaches have to travel to and from the Pavilion. However, it is hoped the provision of extra
car parking spaces in the Market Street car park and the other measures
proposed to increase the turnover of spaces would reduce the number of cars
searching for spaces within the town centre.”
Cllr Timms said: “Now the final report
has been published the 2020 committee is exploring options for funding. These
include the Welsh Government, Visit Wales, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) and Denbighshire County Council.
“Early indications are that the implementation
of proposals in the report will cost between £2m and £2.5m.”
Cllr Timms estimates the plan could be
implemented by the end of 2020 or during 2021.
He added: “I am confident it is going
to happen. That’s because we’ve got a really good case which fits in with what
the county council is planning to do across Denbighshire.
“More work now needs to be done on the
parking aspect of 2020.”
