A FEASIBILITY study into pedestrianising part of Broad Street in Ross-on-Wye has been met with a positive response.

Cllr Julian Utting said at a recent meeting of the Town Council that the working group had it first meeting had been held with those conducting the study into the potential pedestrianisation of the town centre.

He said that Ross compares very well with other towns and far better that councillors realise. He added: “The town is above the national average in the shop vacancy rates and that the number of charity shops trading is less than the average.

“It was evaluated that on average people spend 52 minutes in the town, hopefully spending lots of money and is comparable with other market towns in Herefordshire and bettering it by at least 10 minutes.

“Whether this town goes ahead with pedestrianisation part of the town has not been fully evaluated yet or if there is a cost benefit to the town, but it appears we appear to be doing well.

“That said we do need to think about some longer-term plans, especially if the town is inflicted with having to have some 3,000 houses built locally over the next 20 years. The problem area would be the increase of traffic in the town centre.”

The local authority is paying for the £25,000 feasibility study, as part of the Ross-on-Wye Market Town Investment Plan.

Cllr Danny Lister explained that there is a bit of unrest in the town over this pedestrianisation proposal of how damaging it could be to our town.

“At this stage, despite the report not being finalised, the scheme would not be going any further than Broad Street’s junction with New Street,” Cllr Lister said.

“However, I have heard that some traders, who were originally against the scheme, are now quite enthused by the proposal.”

Cllr Utting pointed out: “This is a pre-feasibility study. We were advised on commissioning it not to have any preconceived ideas. It’s fair to say that Broad Street will not be closed for the whole of its length.”

The town clerk emphasised that the study’s main aim was to establish what the options could be and to find out what the public opinion was.

She said that the results could include traffic calming or prioritising the pedestrian over vehicles and added: “If the town were to be pedestrianised, it would establish which parts would come under this scheme.”