Businessman Tom Innes who runs Fingal-Rock Wine Shippers & Merchants in Monnow Street, Monmouth has written to the Beacon in light of recent stories and letters about what is needed for this part of town.
Last week we carried a letter on behalf of the town’s Chamber of Commerce written by secretary David Evams putting forward both sides of the argument for proposed changes along with a consultation by Monbmouthshire County Council.
During lockdown changes were made to Monnow Street where narrower pavements and a loss of car parking spaces sparked another debate.
Now lockdown is over businesses are looking at ways to attract people back to town again.
Mr Innes, whose shop is next to Marks and Spencer in Monnow Street says he has put much thought into the future of Monnow Street.
He writes: My views are supported by long observation of the street: my office is on the first floor looking out over the street. I have watched the effect of all the experiments with the street that have been put in place in recent years.
I will attempt to set out my thoughts in an orderly manner.
1. I care about Monnow Street for the sake of the town and its future prosperity.
2. I am emphatically not in favour of pedestrianising Monnow Street. I am strongly in favour of allowing vehicular access by motorists to every part of Monnow Street.
3. Footfall needs to be encouraged throughout the length of the street.
4. Everybody, cyclists, disabled, prams, etc, - everybody - should be able to use Monnow Street with confidence and in safety, without unnecessary risk to their health.
5. At present being a pedestrian in Monnow Street is not much fun: pavements, restricted by large planters, effectively making them narrow, and a road that gives almost complete priority to motor vehicles, making it more or less out of bounds to other users.
6. With the present level of traffic in Monnow Street, the fumes, noise and unpleasantness make it positively bad for the health of humans who live (as I do), work (as I do) and shop (as I do) in the street. Not to mention visitors who might want to explore the town.
7. While it is possible to make rules and boss people about, it seems to me far more sensible to observe the behaviour of the users of the street, and try to go with the natural flow of the users.
8. The present traffic arrangements in the street unnecessarily increase the amount of traffic, and pollution in the street, for the following reasons -
(i) Inevitably vans and lorries loading and delivering in Monnow Street end up stopping in the street, blocking it and creating traffic jams (I would note in passing that Monnow Street has lost a number of loading bays recently). I watch as traffic wardens give them tickets, and they go on unloading, continuing to block the street (how else are they to deliver so that the hard-pressed businesses in the street can continue to make a living?).
(ii) Motorists fail to find somewhere to park, so they drive to the end of the street, go round and come back down the street – I do it myself – I need to stop somewhere close to my shop to load and unload. This contributes significantly to the level of traffic in the street.
9. The overwhelming majority of the traffic that drives along Monnow Street is using it to get from one side of town to the other ; it is through traffic – it is not going to Monnow Street as a destination at all.
Bearing the above points in mind, here is my proposal – block the centre of town to vehicular traffic, thus stopping the through traffic; and return the layout of the street to its previous configuration, with the wide road and narrow pavements.
For a few weeks at some point in the pandemic this happened: Monnow Street was blocked at the pinch point by Agincourt Square, and St. John’s Street was blocked.
At the time the previous arrangement of pavements was in place, with a wide road and narrow pavements, as it had been for decades.
Throughout this period I observed the effect on Monnow Street from my office window. I spend all day in my office, so I observed the effect at all hours, all week, Monday to Saturday.
Before I saw the effect, if somebody had suggested to me that it might be a good idea to stop all through traffic along Monnow Street, I would have objected strongly.
However, I have now observed how it in fact played out, to my very considerable surprise.
This is what happened -
(a) Monnow Street became a pleasant, peaceful place to be.
(b) Motorists were able to access all parts of the town: you could drive all the way up to the pinch point; you could drive along Glendower Street, all the way along St. John’s Street till you got to the barrier stopping entry into Monnow Street. Vehicular access was not denied to any part of town.
(c) Because there was no through traffic, there was no trouble parking in Monnow Street to get to the shops all along the street.
(d) Because there was no through traffic, there was no unpleasant impatience from motorists hurrying to get from A to B.
(e) It was a much healthier environment for shoppers, residents, visitors, workers.
(f) Because there was no through traffic, pedestrians ranged all over the roadway, in safety.
I draw your attention to my point 7. above.
People naturally spread out over the road, because it was no longer exclusively dominated by motor traffic.
People were being allowed to behave naturally without being pushed and bossed about.
(g) There was still plenty of footfall – it did not discourage pedestrians from using Monnow Street and going shopping.
(h) It was perfectly possible for motorists, who drove up Monnow Street from the bottom of town right up to the pinch point short of Agincourt Square, to turn near St. John’s Street, because there was no other traffic.
There was, however, one major problem: at peak times in the morning and the afternoon, when the schools were starting and ending their days, there was gridlock, with long queues on the dual carriageway (A40), and on all the roads leading in and out of the town.
There was a further problem: the police, fire brigade, ambulances, emergency services could not get quickly through town. And there were two more problems: buses could not drive through town; and if the A40 became blocked (which we all know happens occasionally), there was no alternative route through town.
But there is a simple solution to all these problems: to block the pinch point in Monnow Street, and St. John’s Street, use retractable bollards.
The emergency services can be issued with widgets to lower and raise the bollards if necessary; likewise buses.
At the peak times, which are entirely predictable, lower the bollards to allow for through traffic to drive along Monnow Street.
I would emphasise that if I had not seen the effect of blocking the centre of town to through trafffic, I would not, could not, have ever imagined that it would have such a beneficial effect on the town.
And I venture to say that the reason nobody has been prepared to contemplate this idea is a failure of imagination.