One-way street plan ‘will kill business’
‘It will be hell on earth... they’re about to kill my 31-year-old business’
Plans to trial a one-way system to resolve a notoriously gridlocked part of Maidstone could make the situation worse and potentially see businesses shut down, it has been warned.
Congestion around the Lockmeadow entertainment complex has seen drivers waiting as long as two hours to get out of busy Barker Road at its worst.
Following a £900,000 makeover of the entertainment centre with a food hall, outdoor terraced seating area and children’s play park, Kent County Council wants to introduce an experimental one-way system in the hope of alleviating some of the traffic.
It was hoped it would be in place at the start of this month but that date has been pushed back until later this year.
The proposed route would take people from Barker Road right around to the entry of Hart Street near B&Q.
But Ali El-Hajj, owner of the McDonald’s drive-thru off Hart Street, which is currently closed for renovations, believes the scheme is ill-thought through.
He said: “With how busy the gyratory is, you sometimes get
traffic beyond belief, especially when Lockmeadow holds an event.
“We’ve been speaking with the council for two to three years now but what they are proposing is completely the wrong way. It is only going to create a bigger bottleneck at the Barker Road junction.
“They say if it doesn’t work out then it can be easily removed, but we live with it every day and
we know what the issue is – for some reason they can’t visualise it.”
Gina Michaelas, who owns Marino’s Fish Bar along Hart Street, echoed similar concerns.
She said: “They haven’t considered our businesses at all – people won’t be able to get to me.
“The new proposal will be hell on earth and they’re about to kill my 31-year-old business.
“I’ve seen people abandon their
cars due to how bad the traffic is and I once saw an ambulance remain stuck for seven minutes.
“I even know of a woman who moved out of her flat while heavily pregnant to live with her mother so she wouldn’t get stuck in the traffic if that time came to give birth at the wrong moment.”
Mr El-Hajj suggested the oneway system should instead be inverted, with traffic being made
to turn right into Hart Street, and exiting by the junction next to B&Q, while Ms Michaelas has been campaigning for a two-lane system in and out of the Lockmeadow complex.
MBC’s Joint Transport Board initially considered three options to relieve traffic in the area.
Option one and the most favoured is the one-way system.
The second idea was a more long-term solution, with a second lane for traffic leaving the complex and a third solution to use a relief road through Station Approach.
Cllr David Naghi (Lib Dem, East Ward) said: “If the locals don’t think it will work then it won’t. It’s not rocket science – something needs to be done to help the businesses and people living in that area.
“We can’t just keep talking about it.”
A public consultation is set to go ahead on the effectiveness of the plan while the trial is in place.
A KCC spokesman said a date would be announced once it is agreed with the contractor.
Queues in January had a knock-on effect for burger restaurant Notorious B.R.G at the new food hall in Lockmeadow with one-hour delays meaning it cancelled taking orders via delivery app Deliveroo due to the volume of traffic.