WORKMEN ARE IN THE ZONES!
New bollards to make city centre pedestrian areas safer
WORK is underway to install bollards in three areas of the city centre – and traders are backing the move.
The bollards will be installed in Piccadilly, Brunswick Street and Cheapside to stop vehicles driving through pedestrian zones and to support efforts by traders to create more of a street café culture.
There will be three automated sliding bollards in Piccadilly, one at its junction with Marsh Street South and two either side of the junction with Pall Mall. They will allow access for deliveries to businesses between 5am and 10am and 5pm and 9pm.
Fixed bollards, which can only be lowered for an emergency or planned event, will also be installed where pedestrian zones begin in Brunswick Street and Cheapside.
Traders have welcomed the move. Jamie Gordon, who works at Pockets in Piccadilly, said: “It’s a pedestrian street and we want a more cosmopolitan and safer place to to sit out and shop. When it’s busy and you’ve got the real ale place and the food places with people outside it’s a great vibe to look out onto. Since Covid it’s happening everywhere, it’s in Manchester and other cities. It’s definitely a positive.”
Contractor Galliford
Try is carrying out the work for the council. It is expected to take up to 12 weeks.
City council cabinet member Daniel Jellyman, above, said there was an issue with motorists using ‘clearly marked’ pedestrian zones.
He added: “Some of the businesses have quite a busy street scene at night, particularly in the summer, so there’s cause for concern from a pedestrian safety point of view.”
Mr Jellyman said the council installed temporary barriers in the zones last summer, which many businesses welcomed.
“It created a real café culture vibe and also made people feel safer which was brilliant,” he said. “We’re now moving to a permanent solution.”
Jonathan Bellamy, below, chair of Stoke-on-trent City Centre Business Improvement District, said: “It is really important to maximise the potential of having a pedestrianised area – something we really saw in evidence last summer following lockdown restrictions being lifted, when all of the food and beverage venues were able to cater for their customers outdoors, producing a buzzing atmosphere, in a protected environment.
“The new bollard scheme also means future events that the BID hosts along Piccadilly – including Friday Night Socials, music events, artisan markets, Piccadilly Spooktacular Halloween events – will be held in a safer and more engaging environment.”