Pedestrianisation of Market Square
In a rare moment of alignment SNTC, HDC and CCC would all like to pedestrianise (and ultimately redevelop) our historic Market Square, which means removing car parking (with the exception of the existing disabled spaces).
The redevelopment plans are part of the Future High Street Bid submitted by HDC, with the support (in principle) of SNTC. That bid includes the compulsory purchase of the Old Falcon and the redevelopment of Market Square into a pedestrian and community space, with the eventual aim of revitalising the whole square. The results for that bid were supposed to have been announced in the early autumn, but have been delayed towards the end of the year. You can read the Hunts post article about this bid here.
In support of that bid, CCC resolved to temporarily pedestrianise the whole of Market Square as part of their Covid response efforts, with the aim of increasing social distancing space for pedestrians (and not for car drivers). The full proposal is here. This was also covered in the Hunts Post and Cambridge News. It is unclear whether or not this will happen, disappointingly neither of the two Covid-19 response investments for St Neots seems to have been carried out. I have repeatedly chased our County Councillors for an update on this without luck.
Confusingly, the current partial pedestrianisation of Market Square (in which half of the car parking spaces have been removed), is at the request of SNTC, which has been used to great effect to expand the Farmer’s Market.
I am completely in favour of this pedestrianisation. Our historic Market Square is one of the biggest and most beautiful in the East of England and should be a focal point for the town’s growing cafe and restaurant culture, and not an ugly car park. For it to be successful we need to occupy the space with events, cultural and community activities (although obviously that is curtailed during the lockdown).
We need to resolve the current confusion over the extent and duration of the temporary pedestrianisation plans so that we can move forward with this transition.
