Southport town centre traffic to be restricted in plan to make town more cycle friendly

Traffic will be restricted in parts of Southport town centre under plans to encourage safer cycling and walking routes created. 

Segregated cycle lanes, ‘Quiet Streets’ and ‘Mixing Zones’ will be created, with some on street pay and display bays and through routes removed under the ‘Southport Emergency Active Travel Route’. 

Southport and Bootle are among areas across the Liverpool City Region which will see work start this week, with 23km of new pop-up cycle lanes and expanded footpaths supplemented by traffic calming measures and new secure bike storage. The work is expected to be completed this Summer. 

The new north / south cycling friendly route in Southport town centre will involve the following roads:

• Chapel Street, Tulketh Street and Wesley Street – Cyclists will be allowed under a new ‘Share with Care Space’. This is an area that is shared with people walking and cycling and we will be encouraging people to take notice of the other people in this area.
• Queens Road – through traffic will be restricted which will make the street quieter for people living along the street and make it better to walk and cycle along.
• Hoghton Street – Segregated cycle lanes on both sides of the street, which will remove parking along both sides and create a safe route for cycling. The bus stop and disabled parking bays will be retained.  A ‘Mixing Zone’ will also be introduced on Hoghton Street. A mixing zone allows a cyclist who wishes to turn right at a junction the opportunity to manoeuvre safely into the right turn lane by means of an advanced give-way for approaching vehicles.
• Talbot Street – (Eastbank Street to Portland Street) –’Quiet Street’, on street pay and display to be removed. A quiet street is one where people will not be able to use the road as a through route by car. Modal filters allow people to walk and cycle as they normally would and the street will be quieter because the through traffic is removed. This could mean that your driving route may change and you may have to take a different route to access your property.
• Talbot Street / Eastbank Street junction – A temporary traffic management trial will be undertaken to prohibit the exit from Talbot street onto Eastbank Street. This will be in the form of a road closure across the exit lane only.  Traffic will be advised of a no through route at the Portland Street junction.  Inbound from Eastbank Street into Talbot Street will not be affected and access into the Tesco Express will be maintained. Following a period of monitoring and review a Talbot Street / Eastbank Street junction signalised upgrade will be proposed for completion later in the year.
• Talbot Street – (Portland Street to Duke Street) – Quiet Street with on street parking possibly to be made limited waiting for a period during the day but not in the evening. This will discourage all day parking but allow residents and their visitors to park during the evening.
• Talbot Street – (Duke Street to Belmont Street) – Quiet street with on street parking possibly to be made limited waiting to discourage all day parking but allow residents and their visitors to park during the evening.

Talbot Street in Southport

The scheme is being carried out by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Sefton Council and MetroActive. 

They said: “We appreciate that travel using public transport is difficult with social distancing restrictions and we hope to encourage walking and cycling as an alternative to car use by providing access routes to Southport town centre to link with other routes.

“We appreciate this is particularly important in that there are 17,660, 12 to 17-year olds living in Sefton and 28.5% (or 33,592) of households in Sefton do not have access to a car or van (2011). These measures will be monitored and adjusted if appropriate.

“Please note that all plans are subject to review and change.”

They added: “We know that getting to Southport town centre for work, shopping or leisure is a priority for our community. We need to make sure that town centres are well connected to local communities by walking and cycling.

Hoghton Street in Southport

“We are helping people to get to and through the town centre by walking and cycling from the north and south of Southport. The route is made up of streets and spaces which will be made more people friendly by making some changes.

“The cycle route will be made by putting in separate cycle lanes, creating quieter streets by putting in modal filters or by creating Share with Care Spaces.”

“Please tell us your views once the routes have gone in and we have finished our work on them. We may make changes to the way the route has been created based on what you tell us.

All comments can be emailed to transport.planning@sefton.gov.uk”

Since late March, when the coronavirus lockdown began, there has been a surge in people cycling and walking for daily exercise and essential journeys. Six in 10 of people told a Combined Authority survey that they expected to walk and cycle more even as lockdown measures are eased.

The new infrastructure will help enable people to travel more safely and support social distancing, connecting key locations like hospitals, workplaces and town centres as well as rail and bus stations.

Schemes to be built with the first tranche of emergency funding include:

• Sefton: Cycle route through Southport town centre, Bootle to Liverpool city centre route
• Halton: Segregated cycle lanes for Hough Green town centre
• Knowsley: Traffic calming measures for safe walking and cycling in Kirkby town centre
• Liverpool: Segregated cycle route between Liverpool city centre and Bootle town centre
• St Helens: Upgrade of cycle routes through Clock Face and Chester Lane
• Wirral: New segregated cycle lane on Fender Lane and upgrade of existing A4 cycle lane
• Liverpool City Region-wide: Secure bike storage at new cycle hubs

The new pop-up foot and bike paths also mark a significant step towards the city region’s long-term plans for a best-in-class 600km walking and cycling network – with £30.7m already committed to building and upgrading routes across the Liverpool City Region.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said: “The coronavirus pandemic has seen lots of people getting back on their bikes and we’re doing all that we can to make it as safe and enjoyable for them as possible.

“Cycling is much better for your health, the planet and for your wallet than taking the car. These new pop-up lanes should make it much easier for people to get about and hopefully help encourage more people to ditch the car!”

 Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Locality Services said: “Our vision for Sefton is a confident and connected borough, where people can enjoy the use of many cycle and walking friendly routes, where we all work together to keep Sefton clean and green with a commitment to low pollution and better air quality.

“The Emergency Active Travel Fund will allow us to make changes to two routes in Sefton, one in Southport and one in Bootle which will encourage cycling and walking and make significant improvements to our streets to enable people to use cars less and move around in a different way.

“We want to encourage people to use active forms of travel by increasing the opportunity for people to walk or cycle, in line with the Council’s commitments to improving Health and Wellbeing and tackling Climate Change.”

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