The plan will improve the setting of the Council House and the introduction of a one way system will mean that the road will be narrowed right down from four lanes to just one. The traffic lights at the junction of High Street will be removed and the area around the road will be landscaped with new areas of lawn and connecting sandstone paths. It will also connect to the work recently undertaken in High Street and Gosford Street.
The work is set to start later this week and also includes:
• Wider pedestrian areas made using high quality sandstone paving - the same as the paving used in High Street
• Introduction of a new one way system along Little Park Street, Earl Street, Much Park Street and St John's Street - enabling the significant reduction of the road width outside the Council House, making better use of the space
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• The extension of the green area up to and around the Council House
• Narrowing of the zebra crossing at Little Park Street
• Two new zebra crossings installed near to High Street and The Herbert Art Gallery
Cllr Rachel Lancaster, Cabinet Member for Public Services said: "I'm delighted that we are set to improve the area outside the Council House. At the moment it is dominated by traffic and even though it is not a well-used road - all of the space is given over to vehicles rather than pedestrians. This work will correct the balance - widening pavements for pedestrians and greening the area in a similar style to the Bull Yard area.
"We are working hard to improve our city centre. It's the shop window for us and we want to make sure that we set a really high standard that new investors will follow. We are open for business and this work shows our commitment to quality. It's exactly what local people deserve. I'm really proud of our city centre and I want everyone to share my pride.
"Work will be carefully timed and phased to keep disruption to a minimum and pedestrian access will be maintained through the area at all times and it will be clearly signed that all businesses will be open as usual. This work will involve removing a small number of trees, which are in a really poor condition and suffering from a disease. But we will make the same commitment here as we made with junction 6 - that we will re-plant two trees throughout the Public Realm works for every one we have to remove."
(CD/MH)
