Preston City Centre Clear Zone works begins Summer 2008

SUCCESS is a Partnership between La Rochelle (France), Ploiesti (Romania)
and Lancashire County Council, Preston City Council and South Ribble Borough Council (UK), under the EU CIVITAS initiative.

SUCCESS Partnership (Click to enlarge)

A vision for a Preston Clear Zone

We want to create a Preston city centre that is pleasant to be in, vibrant, successful and proud. Imagine:

“... a city where you can travel with ease to work, around the shops, or to entertainment; where the shopping environment is full of vitality, vibrant and accessible, by foot, bike, the train, bus or your car and for deliveries; a city where you can breathe clean air and enjoy public open spaces; where
cyclists, pedestrians, elderly and disabled people can all move around freely and in safety……

Let's work together to make this vision a reality.

Achieving the vision

The Clear Zone initiative aims to improve public space using good urban design, reduce the impact of through-traffic, and give priority to sustainable transport.
The Preston Clear Zone is focussed on the historical retail centre of the city. Major changes are planned in other areas of the city, such as the Tithebarn, and it will be important that the area covered by the Clear Zone is not left behind. The aim is to enhance the city centre as an attractive place for visitors, workers and shoppers.

To enhance the area within the Clear Zone and take us towards the vision we want to:

• Improve the overall environment, quality of streets and public spaces;
• Increase overall accessibility, making walking and cycling a greater priority;
• Improve conditions for shoppers along and around Fishergate, to promote this vital retail quarter of the city;
• Discourage traffic using the Clear Zone as a short-cut to reach other parts of the city, to reduce pollution, tackle congestion and reduce the risk of accidents; and
• Provide suitable routes for delivery vehicles and public transport services in
  the Clear Zone.

City Centre Clear Zone

Work has now begun on elements of the Clear Zone, implementing the changes that will help to develop the ‘user friendliness’ of the central urban area for pedestrians and cyclists by improved accessibility and safety.  With the use of high quality materials these areas of Preston will have a modern look that also complements and enhances the historic parts of the city. 

Ringway/Friargate Junction

By piecing together the two halves of Friargate now separated by Ringway it will soon be easier and safer for pedestrians to cross: 

• Pedestrians will be able to cross Ringway in one go, all traffic will be stopped whilst they take the wide paths straight across the junction
  
• The junction will also incorporate Toucan crossings so that cyclists can make turning movements safely
• Pedestrians and cyclists will have more time to cross the road
• A study of the new traffic operation shows that the changes will have little effect on cars and buses using the junction.
• High quality materials will be used to create an attractive, accessible environment for visitors to Preston.

Cross Street

The environment of Avenham Road has already been improved and this will continue with improvements to Cross Street using high quality materials to create a more attractive area for both residents and visitors.

• This road will also be made one way for motor traffic (east to west or Glover Street to Winckley Square)
• This should help to reduce the amount of traffic using this road, making it safer and more pleasant to walk through to Winckley Square and Fishergate
• Some new short-term parking will be introduced close to shops and local businesses where there are currently access problems
• A cycle lane will be introduced for cyclists travelling from Winckley Square towards Glover Street, this will assist commuters and other city centre travellers to use bicycles instead of motor vehicles

Cheapside/Fishergate Junction

In addition to making Preston a more attractive destination there is also the aim of trying to make the city centre a safer environment.

A study has shown that 75-85% of daily traffic entering the Civic Core is unauthorised vehicles and that most of the traffic using Cheapside is just cutting through this convenient route from the city centre to Ringway, despite the current controls that are supposed to prevent Cheapside being used in this way.  This results in a safety problem for pedestrians who have to negotiate high numbers of motor vehicles and then cannot enjoy this dramatic public space in comfort.  As a moving violation, Lancashire Constabulary is unable to give the access prohibitions the necessary enforcement, so we have looked for another way to ensure existing restrictions are followed.  If we could prevent this movement properly, much of the city centre traffic would disperse using other more suitable roads. 

A rising bollard will be installed, which will be down at times of the day when general traffic is welcomed into Cheapside but will be lifted during the times that general traffic is currently banned.  Those who need access such as service vehicles and some blue badge holders will be issued with a pass to control the bollard and allow access.

20mph Zones

National Guidance states that for a 20mph zone to be introduced, the 20pmh speed limit should be self-enforcing.  This means that if the current road layout allows drivers to exceed 20mph then speed reduction features will need to be introduced.  Following surveys in the affected areas of Preston City Centre, Lancashire County Council is constructing flat-topped road humps within the city centre 20mph zone.  These will help to manage speeds without disadvantaging cyclists, buses and service vehicles and will also provide safer places for pedestrians to cross the road.  There will also be 20mph entry and exit signs denoting the area’s entrances/exits.

How these improvements were chosen

There are many opportunities to make improvements to the area, some of which have been highlighted here. Some improvements are easy to agree, can be made quite quickly and within existing transport and road-safety budgets. Other more significant changes will take longer.
A consultation took place over the summer of 2007 so that people could hear about the plans for a Clear Zone and the citizens of Preston decide what they want it to contain. The improvements suggested were divided into three possible phases; each phase contains a range of actions. Phase 1 would go some way to realising the vision described above.  Phase 2, if supported, could bring even greater changes, and help meet more of the objectives. Finally, Phase 3 would take the area the furthest towards realising the vision for the Clear Zone.

• Phase 1: actions with a positive impact that can be put in place in the next few years and at the lowest cost.
• Phase 2: actions with a larger impact that will take a bit longer to put into place and would cost more overall.
• Phase 3: actions with the greatest impact that will need longer term plans to agree, get right and find funding.

At a meeting in September 2007, local Councillors confirmed the recommendations arising from the consultation events. They agreed to support progress with all but one of the Phase 1 proposals to create a City Centre Clear Zone and this is the work that has commenced summer 2008.