WALCOT ST ENHANCEMENT STUDY

C. STREETSCAPE • BEEHIVE YARD TO OLD ORCHARD

'Promenading was a way of life in Bath -- Bath was famed for its pavements and streets.'

The Beehive Yard redevelopment principally affects the central 'bulge' area of Walcot Street from the YMCA building through to the North side of Old Orchard as Future Heritage Ltd are required to improve sight lines and reduce traffic speeds around the entrance to the new development.

BACKGROUND In January 1999, B&NES set out a proposal for traffic calming works in Walcot Street, with a proposed traffic calming gateway at the top of the street where it meets the London road, a considerable raised area within the 'bulge' and a plateau at the Walcot Gate junction, Drawing T253. (Drawing A)

In February 2000 Future Heritage produced Drawing 98304/18 showing revisions to the highway, indicating chevron parking, raised ramped traffic calming features at either end of the 'bulge' and extended footways to the West side of the street around the Ladymead Trough and Drinking Fountain.(Drawing B)

In September 2000, the CI:TE team produced Drawing T253/10/26.7/Sk for the public consultation held in the Hilton Hotel. (Drawing C)

This proposed a different highway scheme; extending the pavements on the East side with the addition of trees,moving the northern traffic calming ramp to the north of Old Orchard,making a feature of the Ladywell Trough and Drinking Fountain, improving the Paragon steps and extending the western walkway in this area with parking remaining parallel to the pavement, north of a central pedestrian crossing point.

Following the public meeting in September 2000 the CI:TE team set up a consultation group with local traders,professionals, Stephen George B&NES Planning Policy officer and member of the Walcot Street Officer team,Rae Harris resident and local contact for the Pedestrian Association and Chinks Grylls public artist/consultant to come up with a finalised design solution for improvements to the highway.Stephen Green of Future Heritage was kept informed.

The CI:TE team Drawing T253/10/26.7 Sk2 10.10.00 was a result of this consultation which proposed widening of the footways both on the east and west sides of the street, a crossing point more in line with the Paragon steps,parking both north and south of the revised pedestrian crossing but not to the north of the Paragon steps on the east side,endless bollards and another pedestrian crossing point opposite Domino Pizza where the highway naturally narrows and people normally cross. (Drawing D)

This scheme was not found to be completely acceptable as traders felt that more parking space was needed, there were 11 spaces on this scheme.There was also a desire for bicycle parking. 25.10.00 A revised scheme was drawn up by Brett Greatorex of St Michael¹s House which introduced service delivery parking ,removed some of the width of the footways to west and east and moved the central crossing point further North in line with the Ladymead Trough and Drinking Fountain to create 6 more one hour parking spaces. (Drawing E)

The CI:TE team also drew up a further revision maintaining the crossing point opposite the Paragon steps,introducing three trees around this crossing point,reducing the number of bollards,introducing a service delivery area on the West side and cutting back on a little of the extended footway on the east side to create in all 13 one hour parking spaces. (Drawing F)

A final revision was drawn up by Rae Harris which realigned the crossing with Ladymead Fountain,removed the trees,reintroduced some chevron parking by reducing the footway on the east side and cut back some parking on the West side for an adequate site line. (Drawing G)

By mid December there was no agreed final solution between the CI:TE team and the Walcot Street design team and the original Future Heritage Ltd Drawing 90304/18 of February 2000 was agreed as part of the 106 Agreement with the understanding that the details of the plan would very likely change.

1. PEDESTRIAN/CYCLIST & PUBLIC TRANSPORT PRIORITY

The CI:TE team objective is to create an environment in the city centre where public transport,pedestrians and cyclists have priority .The national policy document 'Encouraging Walking: Advice to Local Authorities'(March 2000) and the DETR's Traffic Advisory Leaflet 2/00 'Framework for a local walking strategy'(June 2000) emphasise the benefits of walking in the context of sustainable transport,improved health and social inclusion.

There is a desire to establish Walcot Street as a 20mph pedestrian priority zone, with a traffic calming gateway at the top of the street as proposed in the 1999 design layout, with a busgate at the bottom of Walcot Street next to the Podium which will prevent traffic crossing the city centre.

However Walcot Street is one of the major routes into the city centre with over 4000 vehicles coming in and out daily and a major city centre car park at the bottom of the street.A Park and Ride proposal on the Northern approach route to Bath is not due to be implemented until 2003.

It is also a necessary walking and cycling route from Snow Hill,Fairfield Park, Grosvenor and Larkhall which should be encouraged, eventhough there are dangerous crossing points for pedestrians, wheelchair users,pram pushers and the visually impaired, and continuous heavy traffic creating an ongoing polluted environment.

The fact that Bath sits in a natural river basin must also compound the pollution levels.At present there are no parking facilities for bicycles or priority lanes for cyclists in Walcot Street.

The cattle market exit for the Podium Car Park onto Walcot Street is particularly dangerous for pedestrians as visibility coming North at this point is blocked by a solid wall, and for vehicles turning North, as this exit clashes with a bus stop at the corner of the YMCA opposite.

The exiting traffic from the Beehive Yard facility turning South will also clash with this bus stop as well as contending with problems with the vehicle tailback waiting to get into the Podium Car Park particularly on a Saturday when, with the market, one wants it to be as pedestrian friendly as possible.

The West side footway is inadequate from St Michael's Church up to the Bell Public House,narrowing dangerously at the YMCA bus stop point and along the Paragon Wall with a particularly dangerous crossing point at Saracen Street where vehicles are coming down into Walcot Street at speed. B&NES is now committed to widening these footways where feasible and to install dropped kerbs at crossing points as part of the adoption of the Pilot Walking Routes Project, presented to and accepted by the Council in October 2000.This also recommends pedestrian priority crossing at the entrance to the Podium Car Park which has heavy vehicle use,London Street,Saracen Street and the exit junction on the Cattle market.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

The design layout to the improvements to this streetscape are as yet not finalised and there is a serious opportunity here to make Walcot Street a pedestrian,public transport and cycle friendly route with imminent developments at Beehive Yard, the Hilton Hotel frontage, Walcot Yard,Northgate and London Street, in line with National and Local directives.

1. REMOVE ALL UNNECESSARY STREET FURNITURE

Make sure that remaining elements have multiple uses. ie; Fix parking signage to lampposts or drop it into kerbs and remove grey poles. Any necessary safety measures ie, bollards , create a barrier which can also double up as a cycle rack where applicable.If bollards have to be used make sure they are removable so that they do not cause a hazard on Nation Day when the whole street is pedestrianised.The post box could be improved and either resited on the lampost or sited next to the shops.

2. REMOVE TWO WAY TRAFFIC FROM WALCOT STREET

Create a Southern traffic flow and reverse the traffic flow in Saracen Street taking traffic out at the top of Broad Street to Landsdown Road and Roman Road.

a).This will reduce high levels of pollution at the South ends of Walcot Street and Broad Street and make it more pedestrian and cycle friendly in the city centre.

b). It will reduce deteriation to the architecture in this historic part of the street.

c). It will increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians and calm traffic flows from the Podium exit out up Saracen Street and into Broad Street. Traffic will be moving slower from Walcot Street to Saracen Street and it will be easy for traffic to stop at the pedestrian crossing across Saracen Street without holding up other traffic.

d).Traffic will not be turning North out of Beehive Yard and will not cause a problem turning into the traffic calming ramped pedestrian crossing point..Traffic will not clash with the bus at the YMCA corner as the Bus Stop will be removed.

e).Extension to the Western side footways which are very narrow would add enormously to the safety for pedestrians,particularly those with prams, pushchairs,pets or wheelchairs.It would also allow pedestrians to window shop without blocking the footway for other users and therefore encourage sales.

3. REMOVE BUS STOP @ YMCA.

a).Replace with dual use of Bus Stop opposite on the East side which is not on a dangerous site,does not interfere with traffic flow and has a wide pavement area.

b).The East side Bus Stop will have much greater usage both as drop off and pick up point for return journeys.It will also be a very convenient drop off point once Park and Ride is in place from the North.

4. DEMOLITION OF WC BLOCK

a).This area of the street will be much improved with the demolition of the derelict WC block .The replacement of the wall from the corner by the Podium Car Park exit to the Podium Car Park entrance with an artist designed site specific railing scheme in partnership with Hilton International will also greatly improve this area.These railings /pierced wall whatever could also double up for cycle parking and weekly art market.
The creation of a waiting,sitting,viewing space on this newly created apron for bus users,shoppers and market goers with landscaping,seating etcetera will help to open out Walcot Street at this point,making it more user friendly.

5. BUS SHELTER

There will be room for a bus shelter if necessary with artist designed notice boards for advertising,orientation map and community information on the exterior back wall of the bus shelter.The bus shelter should be designed as part of the overall shelter provision for Bath,should be artist designed and should be clad in clear toughened decorative glass or polycarbonate to guarantee safety.
A panel for a changing display of artists or childrens work or poetry could be placed on the back wall interior to the shelter to showcase creative work in Bath and raise the profile of young and established artists and writers and/or school or student output.

6. BRIDGING THE 'GAP'

a).This newly created public space will help to bridge the psychological 'gap' along the rundown cattle market area of Walcot Street( not due for improvement until 2004) encouraging pedestrians and especially visitors to Bath to utilise the whole of Walcot Street and boost trade further up the Street.

b).An artmarket could also run along the railings/pierced walling from the Hilton all the way up and into the Beehive Yard on a Saturday to coincide with the Saturday flea market.It would give a space for local artists to sell work giving them more profile and adding another dimension to the market scene as well as profiling Walcot Street as the creative, artistic,specialist area of Bath and contributing to a 'live'streetscape feel.

c).The artist designed notice boards would give an outlet to advertise the activities of Walcot Street to again draw people up the street.

d) This would be a marvellous point to look across Bath to the hills and surrounding landscape and to gain awareness of the proximity of the river and the riverside walk once that is developed.

e).The streetscape could be further enhanced by retaining and adding to the greenery already present to make a walk eitherway up this area of the street a pleasant experience.

f).This would give a much needed artist designed seating area to this side of the street for pedestrians,to complement proposed seating around Ladymead Fountain in the 'bulge' of the street.

7.PEDESTRIAN CROSSING AT DOMINO PIZZA

There should be a pedestrian crossing at Domino Pizza following a much used pedestrian desire line.The crossing at Domino Pizza should be in the same pennant stone as the footways and link in to the Beehive Yard crossing and the crossing point by the Paragon Steps/Ladymead Fountain.

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