'Love the Triangle' meeting recommendations going to council

triangle pixelated 460Approximately 20 people attended the Love the Triangle meeting on Valentine’s evening in the Butcher's Hook to share their ideas about how Bitterne Park Triangle could be improved. Thanks to the organisers for sharing the following summary. 

 

 

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Lindsi Bluemel had heard that some money would be made available to the Council from the new McCarthy & Stone development at Cobden Bridge, and, as it was early in the development of plans for how to spend it, this meeting was convened to find out what local people thought.

The first phase of the meeting considered what people felt doesn’t currently work for them at the Triangle and three categories emerged: problems with traffic; problems with safety of walking and cycling; and the general appearance and ambience of the Triangle.

In the second part of the meeting participants worked on solutions to the problems they had identified. A consensus emerged on various traffic control measures, including moving the traffic lights further up Cobden Avenue to help people to cross the road; re-phasing the lights to avoid the current problem of people crossing from Riverside Park and not seeing traffic emerging from Manor Farm Road; lowering the speed limit to 20 mph; improvements to the cycle paths; and the introduction of a mini-roundabout at Thorold Road to allow vehicles easier access onto Cobden Avenue at rush hour. Overall, people wanted the Triangle to be a shared space, which allowed a feeling of greater safety and amenity.

Other issues included: right turns both ways for cyclists at the Manor Farm Road/Whitworth Crescent/Cobden Avenue junction; the cycle paths over the bridge need to be joined to shared pavements to avoid having to ride into the road; and green cycle route markings are required to highlight to motorists where cyclists are.

Lastly, people identified lots of improvements to the general appearance of the Triangle which would make it a more pleasant place to be and hopefully improve the prosperity of the traders. People wanted the area around the clock to be improved and made more pleasant, and wanted the road between the clock and the shops on the east side of Manor Farm Road to be paved over and made “access only” or “one way”, to make the area more integrated. The whole look of the Triangle was considered and many suggestions were made for how to improve it, including “gateways” into the Triangle to make people aware that they are entering a village. In addition, there was a lot of support for more art, more events, closing the road occasionally for markets, sprucing up shopfronts and so on.

This summary and the detailed recommendations will be taken to officers at the City Council for discussion after receiving all feedback possible from residents.

Lindsi Bluemel & Liz Batten

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