AN EXTRAORDINARY meeting of Salisbury City Council has been called for December 14 - with 'People Friendly Streets 2021' listed as an item on the agenda. 

The controversial scheme was "indefinitely suspended" at the end of November. 

It came after Councillor Philip Whitehead, the Leader of Wiltshire Council, said Salisbury City Council would not offer its continued support for the scheme, a decision which left him "very disappointed and surprised". 

MP for Salisbury, John Glen, and Salisbury Business Improvement District both called for the scheme to be temporarily suspended. 

Point nine on the agenda says: "Salisbury People Friendly Streets 2021: To consider and determine whether the City Council supports the introduction in 2021 of a People Friendly Streets Experimental Traffic Regulation Order, in accordance with the Central Area Framework report recommendations."

Chairman of the council, Cllr John Walsh, said: "I have received a request from two Councillors to hold a Full Council Meeting as they have concerns about the Council’s current stance on the Peoples Friendly Streets Project.

"The matter cannot wait until our next meeting in January as the SWLEP are deciding on the December 16, if they will allow Salisbury any of the £1.3million set aside given the Council’s current position.  

"I am looking forward to chairing a lively discussion which will have a lasting impact whatever is decided. The public are very welcome to attend virtually."

Cllr John Farquhar, who is also Chairman of the Salisbury Neighbourhood Development Plan (SNDP) Steering Group, requested the meeting. 

He said: "The Group has been working for two years, and was alive to the concurrent work being done by the Central Area Framework (CAF) team.  I was also party to discussions with Wiltshire Council, which agreed that the CAF report would underpin the SNDP and contribute evidence for its emerging policies.

"As the ETRO is the initial step for implementing the CAF report, its suspension calls into question the integrity of the CAF report as a whole, and Wiltshire Council identified Salisbury City Council (SCC) as one of the parties not supporting it. 

"I understand that Wiltshire Council formed this opinion following discussions with the new SCC leadership.  However, as the matter has never been discussed in Full Council, this seems to me to be an open question.

"My purpose in asking for a meeting of the SCC to consider whether or not to support the ETRO is to try to determine whether we think the CAF is a sound blueprint for the future, which will then determine the way ahead for the SNDP."

City council leader Liz Sirman said: "I look forward to discussing the future of the ETRO and transport in Salisbury at the extraordinary full council meeting on Monday 14th December

"I have always said that this has been the wrong time to implement an experimental scheme and I look forward to debating what we can do in the future.

"Any new proposals will need to have much more comprehensive consultation with the local councillors and also residents of Salisbury."

The meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 14, from 6.30pm to 8pm, and will be held online on Microsoft Teams. For more information, click here.