Questions to Cheltenham Borough Council regarding the Boots Corner Closure

Understandably many local residents are very concerned about the prospect of the Boots Corner closure because of the potential impact of displaced South to North through traffic on the St Luke’s area. I have had a long meeting with several officers from both Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire County Council to talk through some of the issues around the closure. 

I particularly wanted to make the point that encouraging diverted traffic to use College Rd and St Luke’s Rd is unacceptable given the sensitive uses in the area – such as residents homes, Cheltenham College, the General Hospital and Sandford Park.

College Road is already very congested at peak times and it is important that before the Boots Closure happens that the two local councils can be certain that this will not be made significantly worse.

Several years ago now there was a campaign against the Borough Council’s proposal that College Road should be classed as a ring road. I did what I could to support College Road residents at that time and was very opposed to that reclassification. Thankfully that campaign was a success and the progress of plans to close Boots Corner had to demonstrate that other routes would not be too badly affected.

In February 2012 the County Council submitted a bid to the Government's Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) for a package of measures aimed at supporting economic regeneration and growth and reducing carbon emissions from travel. The proposals which are now being brought forward are the result of that funding bid being successful.

Whilst the plans stop short of calling College Road a Ring Road, as Oriel Road will become two way, traffic moving from South to North will be able to turn right onto Bath Rd from Oriel Road, left on to St Luke’s Road and then on to College Road to move North.

Having had a good look through the information on the Borough and County Council’s website, one of the things I have suggested to officers is that this needs to be improved. At the moment what is on the Cheltenham website is woefully short on detail on the impact of diverted through traffic. On the other hand the information on the County Council is about the bid and is quite lengthy as it covers Gloucester too.

In terms of what happens next a Traffic Regulation Order (a formal legal process) is due to begin early this year. This process involves a 21 day consultation where people will be able to give their views and raise any objections.

There are numerous things that I talked through with council officers especially regarding how the plans aim to reduce traffic movements through the town as a result of partially closing Boots Corner. These are a few points that they think will help control the displacement of through traffic on other residential roads:

1)      The Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) bid includes funds to create personal travel plans for residents in some areas of Cheltenham (called Smarter Choices). Officers have spent a lot of time researching where cars parked in the town centre come from and believe there are areas of the town where residents can be approached to consider other means of transport such as walking, cycling or public transport. This has been tried elsewhere in the country very successfully apparently.

2)      The work to make Imperial Square/Oriel Rd two way will mean that cars travelling from South of the town will be able to access the Regent Arcade Car Park by a shorter route. It seems that a lot of the town centre traffic is cars moving around the one way system to find a car park. If the changes make this simpler and more direct it will take cars off the road in other areas.

3)      Boots Corner will not be closed to all through traffic, buses will be allowed and without private cars, journey times should improve and make travelling by bus more attractive to people. The Borough Council is working with disability groups and the taxi sector to establish what their usage of Boots corner. Hopefully, this should be clear when the Traffic Regulation Order consultation begins.

There is more information on the councils websites:

The County Councils web page on the LSTF bid http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/lstf

The Borough Council’s current information on its website: http://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/200133/cheltenham_development_task_force/1016/cheltenham_transport_plan

As the additional information I had asked for has not yet been uploaded to the Borough Council website, at the Council meeting on December 17th I tabled several questions about the proposed Boots Corner Rd closure (details below).



Also I would like the council to seriously consider not opening Oriel Road to two way traffic as this is the part which is going to have the biggest impact on St Luke's Road and College Road if the Boots closure does happen.

1.	Question from Councillor Sudbury to Cabinet Member Built Environment
	I have asked council officers to improve the information on the Council website regarding the proposal to partially close Boots Corner to through traffic. This particularly relates to the need for much more detailed information about how the impact of displaced traffic will affect other residential roads such as St Luke’s Road, College Road, Gloucester Road and St George’s Street. When will this be completed?
	Response from Cabinet Member Built Environment
	Gloucestershire County Council as the highways authority plan to begin a consultation process on their proposals in the New Year. The Saturn modelling work undertaken includes predictions for the junctions listed. This information will be available for discussion during the public consultation. In a supplementary question Councillor Sudbury explained that the Integrated Transport Manager at CBC had given verbal agreement that the website would be updated and asked the Cabinet Member to give a commitment that this would happen.  In response the Cabinet Member Built Environment explained that the matter was being dealt with by the Cheltenham Development Task Force.  This was a joint proposal between CBC and Gloucestershire County Council and therefore the information on both websites would need to match and at this time, to his knowledge there was no information on the GCC website.  He would ensure that this would happen but for the time-being the proposals were still provisional.
2.	Question from Councillor Sudbury to Cabinet Member Built Environment
	On the County Council’s website, information on the Local Sustainable Transport Fund bid says regarding the proposals for Cheltenham town centre that investment will be made for “traffic calming measures in residential roads to ensure traffic does not divert on to inappropriate routes.” Is this the case and will investment happen in residential roads such as St Luke’s Road and College Road (subject to agreement of course with local residents)?
	Response from Cabinet Member Built Environment
	A sum is allocated within LSTF funding for traffic calming and alleviation of rat running post Boots corner implementation.
3.	Question from Councillor Sudbury to Cabinet Member Built Environment
	Has a date been set for the Traffic Regulation Order consultation for the changes associated with the partial closure of Boots Corner to through traffic?
	Response from Cabinet Member Built Environment
	The TRO advertisement date will be confirmed once analysis of the public feedback to the consultation has taken place and a final design option approved by members. The advertisement is unlikely to occur prior to the 2013 elections.
4.	Question from Councillor Sudbury to Cabinet Member Built Environment
	One of the suggestions put forward in the Local Sustainable Transport Funding bid was to make Imperial Square and Oriel Road two way. Residents in the St Luke’s area are very concerned about this part of the plan particularly as traffic flowing from the  South to North of the town would use this route and add considerably to existing high levels of congestion. Given the sensitive uses on College Road, such as the hospital, Cheltenham College boarding houses,Sandford Park and residential properties will this council instead (whilst supporting plans to make Imperial Square two way to enable better access to the Regent Arcade Car Park which is one of the aims of the plans) keep OrielRoad one way so as to minimise the impact of displaced traffic on St Luke’s Road and College Road?
	Response from Cabinet Member Built Environment
	Suggestions such as this and others received during the consultation will be examined in due course and influence the final design option for presentation to members.