Plan to turn Granby Street into ‘high-quality gateway’
PEDESTRIAN AREA ON WAY OVER LAST STRETCH TO TRAIN STATION
PEDESTRIANISATION plans are being drawn up for the main road that links Leicester city centre and the railway station.
Highways bosses are looking to remove cars from a stretch of Granby Street between its junctions with Northampton Street and the St George’s Way inner ring road.
The city council says the aim of the £1.7 million scheme is to provide a “high quality gateway” to the city centre.
No start date has yet been set for the work and the council says it will be asking for people’s views on the project in the coming weeks.
A city council spokesman told the Mercury: “We’re proposing a range of improvements to Granby Street and Northampton Street. This would include pedestrianising part of Granby Street between Northampton Street and the
Central Ring Road.
“General highway improvements will be undertaken on Northampton Street, including a new loading bay added.
“We’re also proposing to close the junction of Granby Street with Dover Street to general traffic, with alterations to Dover Street to ensure that it can still be used for local access and deliveries.”
It’s more than 10 years since the underpass was filled in so now is a good time to improve it further
City mayor
The existing contra-flow cycle track on Granby Street, between Dover Street, and the proposed entry to the pedestrian zone) will also be altered to improve conditions for cyclists travelling outbound. “Improvements would also include new trees and street furniture.”
Shopper Phil Wright, from Clarendon Park, said: “They could certainly make the area nicer but they seem to come down and tinker with it every few years, so hopefully this time they’ll get it right. That contra-flow bike lane is a nightmare and needs sorting. It’s not really safe.”
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “We are at the point of giving that bit at the end of Granby Street entirely over to pedestrians to create a more welcoming area.
“It has been more than 10 years since the underpass (under the ring road) was filled in so now is a good time to revisit that area and improve it further.”
The pedestrianisation is part of a wider plan to improve links from the train station to the city’s Cultural Quarter.
A council proposal to revamp the St George’s churchyard next to the old Mercury building on St George’s Way is currently on hold after its own planning committee refused permission for it to go ahead.