Whitchurch walking schemes | Shropshire Council

Mapping

Using the green button below, you can take a look at the map of the proposed new walking routes in Whitchurch. The map will open in a new window in your browser, so you can readily cross-refer it with the table on this page listing the schemes. You can zoom in on the map using your browser zoom function if necessary. This function can be found from the menu in the top-right corner of your browser.

Whitchurch walking schemes

Scheme details

Please note that further route-specific walking recommendations are covered in the Whitchurch cycling proposals.

Key principle: Attractiveness and comfort
Strategic walking improvement recommendations: There is 40 minutes of free parking on the High Street and 30p for an hour at the car park by the Green End/Brownlow Street junction. This disincentivises walking and cycling to the town centre. This needs investigating to disincentivise driving to the High Street whilst maintaining parking for blue badge holders

Key principle: Directness
Strategic walking improvement recommendations: 1/ Alleyways provide access to the High Street from the multiple car parks behind the shops. Bredwood Arcade is a key route through to the bus station. These routes could be promoted with improved signage and maintenance to take pedestrians and cyclists off the roads and give more direct routes 2/ Some spaces could be further utilised to provide safe and direct routes between the town centre and surrounding origins and destinations. These include but are not limited to: • The green space at Egerton Place: This could be utilised as a hub for active travel. As well as providing safe pedestrian access to the town centre from the housing estates to the northwest of the B5385 and to Whitchurch Community Hospital, there is potential to add amenities such as cycle parking and bike repair stations • The Jubilee Park: this provides safe connections into the town centre from the south 3/ Station Road: this is also a vital link to the station. Investigate measures to improve the environment for active travel. This could be by slowing traffic or by removing non-residents on-street parking from this road

Key principle: Safety
Strategic walking improvement recommendations: 1/ There is a need for more cycle parking in the town centre. The High Street entrance to the Civic Centre is an obvious site for this 2/ The walking environment on and around the High Street feels reasonably safe and comfortable with vehicles traveling at slow speeds. At the edges of the 'central walking zone' this ends abruptly 3/ More enforcement of parking restrictions is needed in the town centre, particularly at Green End. These parked cars present a barrier to pavement users, particularly wheelchair users, and force them into the road 4/ Banning all motorised vehicles on the High Street, apart from delivery vehicles, would allow more space for active travel and improve access for mobility scooter users. An intermediate measure would be to remove on-street parking, leaving some for blue badge holders

Key principle: Coherence
Strategic walking improvement recommendations: 1/ The bus interchange requires improved signage. It is easy to access from the High Street direction but from Bridgewater Street there is little provision for pedestrians 2/ There are some streets in the 'central walking zone' that are too narrow to offer a consistently safe pavement width. St Mary’s Street is an example. The promoted routes to key destinations should navigate pedestrians around these roads with clear signage for the benefit of vulnerable users 3/ An improvement to the junction at Bridgewater Street/Green End/Station Road/Talbot Street is needed as it is currently complex and pedestrians wait a long time to cross. This improvement could consist of improved road markings to better denote priorities and clearer signage and wayfinding. An assessment of signal timings is also recommended 4/ Review of wayfinding, particularly on radial routes, to ensure it extends out to more remote trip generators. This includes but is not limited to: • Talbot Street • Station Road • Alport Road • Wrexham Road • Smallbrook Road • Bargates • London Road