Our position regarding the current Academy street proposals is laid out as below:

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1. The initial consultation showed two way traffic remaining on Academy street with no additional road closures or restricted access.  While it is still concerning that a design goal was to make access of the city centre more difficult by some means of transport, with some modification, it is possible we could have supported a variation of that scheme.

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2. The revised scheme (as of March 2023) has the explicit aim of reducing passing trade by 75%, partial closure of Church street via new bollards, the introduction of a bus only lane blocking a portion of Academy street, and more. 

 

3. These controversial and last-minute revisions appear to have been implemented not because they were the optimum solution (otherwise they'd have been included in the original plans), but rather, because the funding from Sustrans includes 'cycling by design' criteria with a requirement to block most vehicle use to reduce traffic numbers below three vehicle movements per minute.

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4. It would be wrong to support a scheme which inconveniences the public, deters visits to the city centre, and puts businesses at risk just to create infrastructure that favours only a tiny minority of city centre users.

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We believe this would have a significant negative impact to the ability of people to access the city centre, would put business viability and jobs at risk, would create gridlock and excess pressure on alternative routes, and put people at excessive risk of traffic penalties in the city centre.

 

On that basis we cannot support the current version of the scheme but continue to support positive outcomes that improve the city centre for all users and remain willing to work with all parties to reach a better solution.