Car trouble (From Penarth Times)

Car trouble

I am glad of the publicity you gave to the proposed experimental scheme for the pedestrianisation of Lower Glebe Street

It is vitally important that all sections of the community have the opportunity to consider its implications and how they will be directly affected.

This includes residents, traders and shoppers.

Whilst I endorse the theory of town centre pedestrianisation, I do have real fears that to pedestrianise in Penarth without first improving the level of parking, might actually do more harm than good.

The scenario that worries me most is of shoppers arriving by car in Windsor Road, finding no parking and, unable to access Glebe Street, travel straight on and away.

For this reason I was happy to hand to councillor Tony Williams, the chairman of planning and transportation, a petition from 17 of the traders of Glebe Street and Ludlow Lane, setting out their objections to the proposed road closure and what it could mean for the viability of their businesses.

If businesses in the town centre are unable to continue viable trading, then there will be no town centre worth pedestrianising.

I am equally pleased that the council's cabinet has approved the undertaking of a full traffic management study to develop a plan for the whole of Penarth.

Only by this means can we hope to achieve a proper and sustainable solution to the revitalisation of our town.

For a small town, it has some unusually wide roads, bequeathed to us by its Victorian planners.

Windsor Road is dangerously wide at the town centre but, with alternative traffic routing, might well provide extra parking, coupled with landscaping.

Plassey Street is more of a challenge, being largely residential, but might also benefit from extra parking and tree planting.

The traffic management study that is now proposed will enable the planners to consider all possible options, to ensure the best end result.

Maureen Kelly Owen Cliff Parade Penarth