Soapbox article written for Cheltenham Standard

Cheltenham Borough Council has been quietly beavering away for years on plans to partially pedestrianise Boots Corner. This is one of a number of changes included in the Cheltenham Transport Plan.

Over the summer of 2013 the Council conducted a consultation with the town’s residents about plans for Boots Corner. People were shown imaginative sketches of the area transformed by fancy road surfacing, along with options for a new fountain, trees or public art. The Council concluded that there was support for their plans.

Not happy with the way this consultation had been undertaken, I carried out my own online survey earlier this year (you can view the results and read my objection to the plans on my blog http://klara1967.blogspot.co.uk).

My survey showed that the largest number of people want Boots Corner to stay as it is. Interestingly it also showed that many people, who say they support the Council’s plans to change Boots Corner, actually support full pedestrianisation and not the fudge of partial closure.

What is proposed simply will not deliver the significant level of improvements at Boots Corner the Council say it will because buses and taxis will be trundling through the area.

With buses and taxis going through but no controlled crossing, Boots Corner will become a difficult environment for many vulnerable people to use. Over 67% of people responding to my survey said they did not believe allowing buses and taxis to share space with pedestrians at Boots Corner would be safe for people with disabilities.

Partial pedestrianisation of Boots Corner will shift congestion from a town centre location where no one lives to roads where there are many local residents. Almost 79% of people responding to my survey expressed some level of concern about this, with the largest number of people saying they are very concerned.

And they are right to be concerned. The transport ‘plan’ will move pollution from a mobile population of shoppers to a static population of residents, with all the negative health impacts that will have. The roads affected by increased traffic will be much worse for all road users, not just motorists or bus users stuck in traffic jams; cycling and walking on these routes will be much more unpleasant. Increasing congestion and making journey times more unpredictable will also harm local businesses.

The current one way system in our town needs sorting out but that can be done without the proposed traffic changes at Boots Corner. Improving the appearance of Boots Corner is not dependent on reducing the traffic there. In the Promenade by the War Memorial a great deal of investment has taken place in improving the pavements. And yet this potentially wonderful civic square remains a glorified taxi rank and bus station.

No one wants Cheltenham to stagnate. It is a beautiful town and a wonderful place to live. We need to pursue plans for the future which will bring genuine improvements. Given how damaging the current plans are it is time for a fundamental rethink.

Let’s keep the traffic flow at Boots Corner as it is – yes it’s busy but it works, the crossing helps people cross and traffic around the town is not continually gridlocked. Resurface and repave the area and give the fountain some TLC. Remove the traffic from the Promenade by the Long Gardens and War Memorial and create a world class civic square which will be a real asset to the town and its residents.