There’s a nip here and a tuck there, but the long-awaited Powys County Council review into Welshpool’s controversial one-way system isn’t recommending much more.
Mywelshpool has obtained the recommendations to be made to council this week, and while a number of safety concerns are being addressed, the ‘back road’ will remain one-way and not revert back to the two-way system that many had called for.
The Scrutiny Review was led by Cllr Kelvyn Curry and identified a number of trouble spots that require fine tuning.
It said that “The Working Group did consider suggestions by some of the respondents to returning some roads (Severn Road / Severn Street / Broad Street / Broad Street / Mount Street / Raven Street and Mill Lane / Union Street / Brook Street) to a two-way system. However the advice received from Highways Officers would be that this would fall into the category of a change which would require a major remodelling exercise to be undertaken, and there is a question as to whether Welsh Government would allow such a change to the system involving a trunk road, as well as the issue of funding such a change.”
The report concluded: “Following consideration of the evidence gathered including representations received, the Working Group concluded that significant and major changes to the One Way System were unwarranted. However, improvements could be made in relation to safety (both pedestrian and driver), ease of turning into streets (particularly for larger vehicles), signage, and traffic flow.”
The review will now be considered by the council's Environment, Infrastructure and Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committee this week.
So what’s to change?
See for yourself by reading the full panel review at http://www.powys.gov.uk/rep_2012-12-20eicd1_24.2a_en.pdf?id=47&L=0