September 2007
Falmouth has had a Traffic Order in place since 2003, banning through traffic in Market, Church and Arwenack Streets between 11.00am and 4.00pm. This worked for a while but now it is generally flouted or ignored because of a combination of bad signage, ignorance and the Police not having the resources to enforce it.
There is a consensus that Falmouth's main streets should be pedestrianised at peak times but this is impossible for as long as Church Street Car Park remains in use. There are moves afoot to close it and create a small multi-storey car park on the Well Lane Car Park site which would leave the Church Street site available for mixed use development. This would raise a new raft of concerns for the Civic Society. We will monitor these proposals and lobby for a large public realm element and also argue that any new architecture should be sympathetic to the existing grain and vernacular. It is important that the existing sight lines are maintained along the Habourfront.
In the meanwhile, since there has been a lack of action from the County Council, a joint initiative was set up between the Police and the public and this has been in action this summer. Members of community groups, including The Civic Society, Friends Of The Earth, The Residents' Association, The Town Centre Forum and The Poly have been recording the registration of cars that have ignored the traffic ban. These have been passed onto the Police who have sent letters to those concerned who live locally reminding them of the traffic regulations. This has resulted in a significant reduction in through traffic and increased awareness of the Order. Nevertheless the problem remains.
Parking in the street appears to be as bad as ever but the C.P.S.O.s and Carrick's Parking Officers are being trained to issue parking tickets. In addition, The Friends Of The Earth have collected well over 1,000 signatures on a petition in favour of pedestrianisation and this is been presented to the County Council on 9 th October.
It will be a full Council meeting and our mayor, Mike Varney and councillor Oliver Cramp will be there to ask questions and find out why the Council seem so unwilling to allow Falmouth its rising bollards.
We live in hope!
