THE People Friendly Salisbury scheme has received praise from some quarters.

It comes as businesses and market traders in the city described it as a 'disaster'.

Dr Jimmy Walker, of Bishopdown, described it as a “wonderful initiative”.

He said: “For the first time in 30 years I actually heard children playing in the market square. I was waiting by the bus stop and had never heard this before due to the noise of queued up traffic along Blue Boar Row.

“The city is now a much safer place for pedestrians and cyclists.” He added: “Pedestrians no longer have to fear being knocked down by speeding cars or taking pot luck between cars, and are no longer exposed to the high levels of pollution in the city centre - what a blissful environment.

“And as a cyclist the city centre is a delight to use. Lack of traffic volumes have made our streets so much safer.”

Wiltshire Council say it is still "early days" for the initiative, but that more improvements are still to come. 

Matthew Cowen got in touch with the Journal to say he thinks the scheme is “absolutely fantastic”.

Matthew, his wife, and three children moved to Salisbury in July, and use bikes as their main mode of transport.

Matthew said: “I understand some of the traffic is probably going onto the A36, etc. but I believe that should be addressed in the medium/longer term, via a proper bypass, or what have you.

“The reality is, with climate change, we all need to get out of our cars and either walk or cycle instead, exponentially more than we have done in the past. I understand that there will always be some journeys that require a car, for example elderly or disabled people (with blue badges, etc), but I believe 80 per cent of local journeys could be done by waking/cycling (whereas now it’s probably the opposite, with 80 per cent done by car).

“Some people are also concerned about local businesses, but I believe a lot of the traffic affected, were people using those streets as a rat run, as opposed to people investing in the local economy, and that if the air is cleaner and it’s a pleasant city centre, with less traffic, this will make people more likely to visit and spend money, in the longer term.”