General Discussion
Pedestrianise The Strand
My own feeling, rightly or wrongly it will kill the Strand shops who are already struggling, even worse when one of the supermarkets open. I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce think?
I like walking through Newton Abbot where its 'car free' along by Iceland and Boots ..shops are doing ok there.
Maybe if they widened the pavement, banned parking and had dedicated loading bays, that will be better.
I agree its great to be able to walk car free in parts of Newton Abbot but they also have large car parks close to the city centre, a much larger population and a wide variety of shops/inside market and supermarkets in the centre. I really dont think we can compare N A to Dawlish.
No way, i can see problems with the disabled who cannot walk far, no back entrances for shops deliverys, building out over the wasted lawn area for horizontal parking and then make the pavement on the shop side wider with deliverys restricted to deliverys before 9am would be better
I think that the suggested proposal to pedestrianise the Strand has a lot of merits, but like others have stated, there are a number of considerations that have to be carefully thought through. Pedestrianisation has worked well in a number of towns, leading to a healthy, vibrant and safe atmosphere within these towns for both shoppers and shop-keepers. Parking is already an issue in Dawlish, though those with disabled badges seem to park wherever the hell they feel like anyway and are therefore low on the list of considerations. Personally, I think that the main car park fees should be reviewed to encourage people to park there rather than them choking up the narrow streets.
The car park next to the taxi rank could be converted to 50% disabled parking so they can park there, and before anyone says about walking to the shops, well, they have do that wherever they park in the strand. As for closing it off to all traffic after 9am, (PJD) what happens if a driver cant get there before 9? Deliveries & Collections happen all day during shop opening hours so that will not work.
If you pedestrianise The Strand, how do you suggest vehicles get out of Dawlish? You either force people to drive up over Stockton hill, up over Oke hill or along Plantation Terrace, already narrow and overused routes. If parking was made along the stone wall side of the strand only the pavement could be widened slightly, and shop deliveries/refuse collection was enforced to after say 5pm through until 9.am, that would stop the traffic jams caused by the inconsiderate cars parked 3 feet out of the parking bays/lorries and vans stopping in the middle of the road to load/unload. The towns infastructure does not suit pedastrianisation like say Teignmouth or Newton Abbott. Thats unless Teignbridge and Devon County councils intend to spend millions on wideing and upgrading the previously mentioned escape routes from town.
Reverse the traffic in High Street. Allow delivery vans/post in the day to use the Strand..will be only a few! Its not that far for people to walk from the main car park.
ffs, close all the shops and turn it into one long pavement cafe then thats what yo all seem to want, because pedestrianisation will cause that. I will then have to shop in Teignmouth !!!!!!!!!!!!
Stay in the 1950's then, do you not wonder why Dawlish does not attract big name shops? Barclays and HSBC Bank left, Threshers ..and we all know about Woolies!
Do you know what you are all so negative. Turn the lawn into a car park??? The Lawn is about the only area of Dawlish where families or 'older' or 'younger' couples can have picnics or play games. Turn the car park next to the taxi rank into 50% disabled parking? What about people who still have difficulties but dont qualify for a disabled badge or a young mum/dad with small children???? Dawlish is dawlish and it should be left alone. I bet the majority of you who post here dont even originate from Dawlish let alone Devon and if you do you should be positive about the town.
I do come from Devon, native of Exeter lived in Dawlish for 25yrs I do not want to see the Lawn turned into a Car Park?!!! talking about the narrow bit of shrubbery which backs up onto the strand,build out over it and put covered seating under, park on top, I agree with youon the less mobile population who can walk very short distances thats why they need to park close to the shops, turning the top car park into a disabled one is ridiculous, I hope those who suggested it never find themselves in that position. Delivery lorries can be restricted to delivery times it happens in other towns, Teignmouth has it !!!! I agree with you that Dawlish gets messed about with by people who have little common sense, the demise of Woolworths and Threshers was countrywide not a Dawlish problem!!!!!!! To all who want it pedestrianised if you want a ghost town carry on!!!!!!!
Can you provide any examples where pedestrianisation has turned other towns into "ghost towns"? Thanks.
other towns are not like Dawlish, we have 1 long shopping street, not a succession of shops, stop comparing this lovely town to elsewhere, itis totally different.
Would it not be an even better 'lovely little town' with no cars charging down the Strand?.. people then free to walk from the Lawn to the shops. Trouble is nobody will walk anywhere!!!..they even drive to the Gym!
it would not be traffic free, the logistics dictate that, the lawn is a pedestrant area if you want to walk traffic free , as many people have done for years. what about making Brunswick traffic free !!!!
So, are you telling me that EVERY person with a disabled badge is able to park right outside the shop that they want to go in? Then jump back in their car, drive a few more yards and park again? What a load of cr@p you talk PJD. Dawlish is now lagging behind every resort because BoF's like you still think Victoria is on the throne and cant accept change or the 21st century, and you are the one who cant wait to see Sainsburys/Tesco come to this town. Thats then it will become a ghost town, NOT because of a bit of pedestrianisation.
Having just walked down the strand dodging people trying on shoes outside a shop and customers choosing their produce outside Stokes, oh and trying not to get a bump from cars parking as i was forced to step off the pavement i suddenly remembered why i try to avoid the area. A good solution would be to build a multistory car park by the station, one way along the High Street, down Queen Street, around Alexander Terrace, down Brunswick Place. Pedestrianise the strand and wide en the pavement. There sorted!!!!!!!!! Good that Woolworths is at last seeing the light. I was recently speaking to a trader in Torquay and he was surprised the premises were still empty as he told me he was set to purchase it when it was first on the market and was piped to the post by someone. I hope he has better luck if he tries this time round.
lets put it in to perspective, we are a small seaside town with one main street, come September we will have it all to ourselves again !!!
@PJD "come September we will have it all to ourselves again" Does that mean we have to lock ourselves indoors and not come out till next year? As the weather is still reasonable at that time of year (it has been for a few years now) and through till the end of October, Mrs Investigator and myself would like to sit at a roadside café and soak up the ambience and atmosphere and watch the world go by while drinking our Champagne Cocktails or Pimms, and just think how nice it will be to sit in the strand at one of the lovely cafés looking at the beautiful Autumnal colours on the trees and not have to worry about all the non commercial traffic screaming down the road.
Im too busy working for that and would rather sit in the ambience of my garden, each to their own lol
As an outsider, but a regular visitor, I have always favoured the idea of keeping the one way system down the Strand, but NO parking EITHER side. Widen existing pavement one side to narrow the roadway but still allow any loading or unloading of goods vehicles. Introduce speed humps. Disabled parking to be catered for naturally. Many people nowadays are too bone idle to walk anywhere. (Towns such as Falmouth allow cars thro the town on a restricted basis but it just does not work with cars parking momentarily to shop, and impeding pedestrians). The downside would be for retailers. If drivers could not park momentarily & had to pay & park in a car park, they would probably drive on.
Loss of 100 odd car parking spaces on Strand is the prolem if you close it off. We're short of parking already. Yes, build a LARGE multi story on railway carpark (get Sainsbury to pay. Where would loading bays go for the constant deliveries that occur every day? -Make pavement 3x as wide -Parking on lawn side only+ at an angle -Get rid of one set of traffic lights - at bu stop -Make parking on street free for 1/2 hour