Civitas Measures

Measure

Introduction of time controlled access restrictions

Within a historic City Centre it is not often possible to share space between different road users spatially: most sharing therefore has to have a temporal dimension. In this demonstration the innovation would be in having no access restrictions outside core shopping hours to assist with peak hour vehicle demands.

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Objectives / Innovative Aspects

To restrict access to two City Centre streets to pedestrians, cyclists, accessible collective passenger transport, and service vehicles only during hours of maximum pedestrian activity (e.g. between 10:00 and 16:30), consistent with the City council’s Quality Plan, but allowing access to all traffic at other times.

The Measure

The measure will be implemented using Norwich City Council’s standard approach to introducing new transport schemes within the City.

After an initial feasibility study involving limited consultation, the Norwich Highways Agency Committee (NHAC) will be asked to agree the broad principles of a scheme, e.g. location and extent. There will then follow extensive consultation with key stakeholders including amongst others, the public, local traders, pressure groups and emergency services.

Related Measures

show related measures

Implementation Status

St George's Street, which is on the edge of the main shopping area and has St Andrews Hall and the Playhouse Theatre fronting it, was pedestrianised in April 2007. However it quickly became apparent that the mix of general traffic and a flush surface led to a perceived safety problem and therefore the decision was taken in January 2008 to close it to all traffic at all times.

For 6 weeks in the summer of 2008 St Benedict's Street, a busy shopping street with a frontage made up of independent retailers, was closed every Saturday between 10am and 5pm. However it very quickly became apparent that despite support for the idea from the local traders during the planning stage, the pedestrianisation did not work for them, and mindful of the changing economic climate the scheme was withdrawn.

Results

Neither scheme succeeded as a part time access control measure. The lessons learnt from the project show that there needs to be a reason why the street is closed at certain times and not others. With St Georges Street it was clear that vehicles did not need to be there at all, while with St Benedict's, there were no obvious benefits from withdrawing cars only one day a week.

Downloads

Full Evaluation

Full Evaluation Report - Introduction of time controlled access restrictions (pdf)