Decisions over Market Place (From Salisbury Journal)
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Decisions over Market Place
7:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in Postbag
IN response to Mrs Rushby (Postbag, February 7), she quotes the result of one of the questions asked in the Market Place survey.
When the area board reached its decision, we looked at the full results of the survey, which included the following responses:
* The market should be a pedestrian zone, 61 per cent in favour, 31 per cent against
There should be disabled parking, 53 per cent in favour, 32 per cent against
* There should be more disabled parking in the vicinity, 51 per cent in favour, 24 per cent against
* Disabled parking could be placed on roads on and near the market, 66 per cent support, 18 per cent against.
Based on the full results of the survey, the working group and technical input from officers it was decided to remove all parking from the Market Place, something which is the majority view of the consultation.
We have worked very hard to find alternate spaces for disabled parking and have been able to increase the current 12 spaces in the Market Place and New Canal Street to 22 spaces, which will mean that for the first time almost all of the city centre will be within 50 metres of a disabled space.
A huge amount of work has gone into understanding the accessibility problems faced by disabled people in the city.
The new Market Place surface will be much more accessible for wheelchairs, and we are replacing the pavement in New Canal (one of the worst areas for wheelchair access at the moment) as well as widening the pavement to make it easier to navigate.
The works we are carrying out will make the city much more accessible for people with mobility issues.
It means some of the parking is moving from the Market to New Canal and I understand people’s concerns about change, but this change will significantly improve things.
RICHARD CLEWER, Wiltshire councillor St Paul'sWard Salisbury Chairman, Salisbury Area Board
WITH less than a month until the start date for the Market Place enhancement, chaos is rife within Wiltshire Council.
Traffic orders and footpath closure issues remain unresolved and still no agreement on which slabs are to be laid.
No one is telling the market traders where they are to be moved to.
Consequently, they cannot tell their customers where everyone is going to be and just for good measure, amid all this mayhem and to generally add to the confusion, the city council, which runs the market, decides to reorganise its market management team.
Wiltshire Council blames Salisbury City Council for not keeping anyone informed and Salisbury City Council blames Wiltshire Council for not keeping them informed.
Wiltshire Council is patting itself on the back for rescuing the Market Place and the trees from the ill-conceived plans of Salisbury Vision.
Wiltshire Council is also advocating ‘shop locally’ but, it has emerged, they have set out to buy the granite slabs from China for our lovely, quintessentially English market square.
Added to this chaos there is also the mess made of Queen Elizabeth Gardens, the fiasco of the Guildhall roof, the lack of consultation surrounding disabled parking in the Guildhall Square, and serious question marks over the Maltings development.
And you have to ask yourself, where is the leadership in all this?
Salisbury needs strong leadership and local councillors who will work as part of a team, are part of the community and will listen to and stand up for its residents.
RICKY ROGERS, Wiltshire councillor, and IAN TOMES, Salisbury City councillor
Comments(10)
gingin
says...
4:31pm Thu 14 Feb 13
Which ever council is running the show there will always be arguments for and against but things do need to move on and quickly.
The Traders need to be considered and informed not kept waiting for their information so someone out there needs to do their job.
Richard Clewer
says...
10:25am Fri 15 Feb 13
There is no confusion at Wiltshire Council regarding the Market Place. Work has started on New Canal and the TRO for the Market Place was signed off yesterday, work will start on the Market Place in March. The only confusion has been caused by Cllr Rogers attempting to force the Area Board to withdraw the Traffic Regulation Orders and to ask for a futher meeeting to be held to discuss the surface (again). If Cllr Rogers had his way the Market Place improvements would be delayed for atleast a year (unless we were willing to see the tourist season disrupted by a dug up Market PLace, something I am not willing to see). That would place the improvements in real jeopardy as Wiltshire Councils cabinet would ask whether Salisbury really wanted to see money spent on improving the City Centre or not.
The Market Traders have been told that the work will be done in two phases, first the Western side of the Market Place, then the Eastern side and Guildhall. The City Council will need to work out how the layout will function while works are going on and will do this in plenty of time. We will do everything we can to make this as easy for the Market Traders as possible and will be listening to any ideas they have as the works commence.
The granite surface is being sourced from China. Sadly the UK building industry has long ago force the mothballing of the UK's granite mines by demanding cheaper and cheaper materials (most were in Scotland). We were faced with a choice between Portuguese and Chinese granite and the difference in cost was significant and from what I understand the quality very similar.
I can't comment on Elizabeth Gardens, that is a matter for the City Council. The Maltings is currently at a stage where consultation is being undertaken. If people have concerns about the site (and many do) they need to let Wiltshire Council, the Vision, the Area Board and Stanhope know about them so they can be addressed. Nothing about the Maltings has been set in stone and it is all open to change and review.
As for the consultation over disabled parking in the Market Place goes, we have carried out a great deal of consultation. The issue is that while some disability groups including Shopmobility support the changes, others do not. The fact is that we will be increasing dedicated disabled parking from 12 spaces to 22 spaces.
The development of the City Centre and improvments to Salsibury should not be a Party Political football. These are major decisions which have the potential to bring huge benefits to the City. It would be extremely sad to see them lost in the political infighting that so gripped the District Council. The Salisbury Area Board has so far avoided petty party politics and I for one will do everything I can to keep them out.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Clewer
Richard Clewer
says...
10:31am Fri 15 Feb 13
SaveTheCarParks
says...
12:53pm Fri 15 Feb 13
Incorrect - the projects will have the reverse effect because there will be nowhere for visitors to park.
No Market square parking.
No salt lane parking.
No central parking.
No Brown street parking.
Richard Clewer
says...
1:34pm Fri 15 Feb 13
There will be parking replacing the Central Car Park on the Maltings site. We need to work out how much there should be and that is part of the consultation which will be going on for the next several months. We need people to get their views on parking to the Council and Stanhope. Aslo we need information on current parking usage at peak periods (I currently only have averages) to work out how much parking we need to retain.
rantone
says...
4:44pm Fri 15 Feb 13
karlmarx
says...
5:23pm Tue 19 Feb 13
As a part time cyclist, car driver and pedestrian I get to see the road conditions from various aspects.
Cycling is down right dangerous due to the condition of the cratered, pot holed strips of rubble masquerading as roads in Salisbury. The car doesn't fare much better, maybe I should trade it in for a 4x4. Walking appears to be the least dangerous and most stable way of navigating around Salisbury.
The road outside the Tory bunker is like a roller coaster ride in the car and, on the bike it's like picking your way through a mine field.
IanMcL
says...
6:43pm Tue 19 Feb 13
No Tories in the City?
Helen Farmer
says...
8:09pm Tue 19 Feb 13
Which ever way you look at it, less than one third of the 1500 people who completed Cllr Clewers survey wanted Disabled Parking removed from the squares.
I'm not sure why the figure of 22 spaces is still being quoted. The plans are for 7 road side spaces in Blue Boar Row, (where Market Traders currently park their vehicles on Market Days) one in Minster Street, two in Silver Street and 10 off road in New Canal - which makes 20. The site of the other two road side spaces proposed for New Canal has now been promised to Taxi drivers for part of their new rank.
Whilst 8 extra dedicated disabled spaces are to be provided in Salisbury, the overall loss of around 60 general access, city centre spaces will have a huge impact.on disabled peole, both Blue Badge holders who will in reality have three quarters FEWER parking spaces available, and disabled people who do not meet the tight criteria for Blue Badges, and will have NO city centre parking spaces.
Blue Badge spaces in Salisbury will become even more difficult to secure than they currently are, leaving many disabled people effectively barred from Salisbury.
The QUALITY of the new spaces is not great either. ALL the roadside spaces are on one way streets, leaving drivers no choice of which side of their car faces the pavement, something which is extremely important for parents/carers of children,(disabled or not) learning disabled people, and many others.
Several of these new spaces will not even meet the the minimum national standard, of 2.7 metre width. (Wiltshire Council gets round this by using a 'get out' in the Manual for Streets which allows spaces to be a small as 1.80m in width, where road conditions require).
The 10 off street spaces to be provided in New Canal are to be positioned so that users HAVE to reverse into them. Reversing into a small space is not easy for everyone, the majority of Blue Badge holders are older people many of whom did not have to undertake this manouvre for their driving test. Even for those who can reverse their vehicles, (which personally I CAN do, using just mirrors) - reversing into a small space in a busy public area will necessitate turning to look out of the back of the vehicle, which can be very painful for people with neck/back problems.
Cllr Clewer says that there has been a great deal of consultation on the disabled parking issue. Whilst this is techically true,(we were asked our opinions) since the views of DISABLED PEOPLE have been completely ignored, I and others feel our time has been utterly wasted by Cllr Clewer and his Area Board.
That Shop Mobility supports the Area Boards plans is hardly a surprise, since Shop Mobility is Wiltshire Council run.
Oh, and Cllr Clewer's assertion that every building in Salisbury will have a Blue Badge space within 50 metres, ignores the fact that disabled people can neither fly, nor jump tall buildings!
Sustainer says...
4:28pm Thu 14 Feb 13
“Salisbury needs strong leadership and local councillors who will work as part of a team....”
Who wouldn’t agree with that? My observation is that it’s a bit rich coming from these two Councillors though.
Councillor Rogers is on the Southern Area Planning Team and voted for the Market Place refurbishment application when it came before them on 17th Sept 2012 and so it is surprising that he should be so critical now. The Journal reported on his abysmal attendance record on the 19th July.
Councillor Tomes’s attendance record taken from the Council web site is poor as well.
It shows him attending 58% of the time compared with the average Councillor attendance record of 87%. He is a market trader so surely should have used his knowledge in both camps to have helped plan an orderly transition during the market square refurbishment. He appears to be trying to blame others when he had the solution in his own hands.