Businesses, residents and anyone who works, travels through or enjoys the Park Row, Upper Maudlin Street, Marlborough Street and Colston Street area are being asked to make suggestions on how to make walking and cycling easier and how to improve the general street environment.
During the summer, the council responded to the COVID-19 crisis by providing more space for walking and cycling on community roads to support social distancing. This included using barriers to temporarily widen pavements and provide protected bike lanes on routes such as Park Row, Upper Maudlin Street and Marlborough Street. We have been flexible with our approach and we have been listening to suggestions from local people for improvements to support streets and help people get around safely, both during the pandemic and in the long-term.
The council is now looking to strengthen the temporary changes made during the summer. As a result, we are now looking for suggestions on how we can improve and build on the changes to maximise the community’s enjoyment of these areas, making it easier to walk and cycle whilst ensuring access and services for local businesses, residents and organisations.
Bike lanes protected from traffic by temporary bollards have been in place on Park Row, Upper Maudlin Street and Marlborough Street for several months. The project also involved changes to the junction between Perry Road and St Michael’s Hill, which stopped traffic turning left onto St Michael’s Hill from Perry Road and the right turn out of St Michael’s Hill onto Perry Road.
The aim of the scheme is to:
- Improve walking and cycling journeys by providing more space
- Improving efficiency of traffic light junctions for all road users
- Create more liveable neighbourhoods with less congestion and pollution
- Increase opportunities for sustainable travel to the key destinations such as the hospitals
- Support local businesses to stay and thrive in the area with increased footfall
We are keen to hear local views on how the temporary changes have been working and how we can improve them. Our aim is to ensure any change to the street environment benefits the community as a whole.
Below is a surveyasking you what you like about the area and what you might like to see improved in the future. We are also planning to make further changes to the existing temporary scheme based on engagement undertaken over the summer months with local traders and residents. These include:
- Further marked loading areas for businesses on Perry Road and Park Row
- Extending the scheme with a new protected bike lane on Colston Street. This will be northbound only, where there is currently a marked cycle lane indicted by road markings
- Improve two pedestrian crossings. The first outside of the BRI hospital on Upper Maudlin Street and the second at the junction with St Michael’s Hill with Upper Maudlin Street.
Your suggestions will help us design improvements to the Park Row, Perry Road and Upper Maudlin Street area that work for everyone. We are carrying out separate engagement with residents and businesses on Lower Church Lane to develop plans to prevent this road being used as a rat run following the changes at the St Michael's Hill Junction. There will be public consultation before any changes are made permanent.