Carlisle Renaissance

Castle Street improvement proposals to be discussed

Carlisle City Council's Executive committee will discuss a proposal to give one of Carlisle's most historical areas a high quality makeover next Tuesday (28 August).

A report to Members of the committee sets out ambitious Carlisle Renaissance plans to improve Castle Street, an integral part of the city's 'historical core'. The draft scheme is part of wider plans to improve the economic and tourism aspects of the city centre and is regarded as setting a high standard for future improvement proposals to follow. The scheme plans are at an early stage but propose a quality finish. They include

• an increased use of high quality natural materials -granite and local lazonby sandstone;
• the removal of unnecessary street clutter;
• the use of consistent street furniture with a traditional appearance;
• reducing unnecessary vehicle access;
• installing a more effective parking layout; and
• improving pedestrian access to the area.

It is proposed that the £840,000 scheme could be financed by Government LABGI funding and includes

• Repaving footways and road surfaces - the existing footways on Castle Street are a mixture of concrete flags and concrete modular paving, most of which have been in place for many years. The proposed scheme replaces the existing paving with new traditional materials.
• Traffic management and parking - amend the layout of parking spaces in Castle Street.

Proposals include:

• Having no disc or disabled parking on the West side of Castle Street with parking for deliveries only.
• Parking between Finkle Street and Paternoster Row (east side of Castle Street) to be disc parking, 1 hour duration of stay cars to be parked in 'echelon' to maximise the number of spaces without causing undue visual intrusion.

• Parking between Paternoster Row and St Mary's Gate (east side of Castle Street) to be for Disabled Drivers (Blue Badge Holders). This replaces the parking, which at present takes place on the Cathedral frontage.

• Parking between St Mary's Gate and Greenmarket (both sides of road) to be for Disabled Drivers (Blue Badge Holders) as existing.

• Castle Street to be 'one way' in a southbound direction.

The parking layout reduces the total number of spaces from 54 to 42 and frees up the Cathedral side of Castle Street from parked cars. The needs of disabled blue badge holders are protected by ensuring spaces are located between Paternoster Row and the Greenmarket. The creation of the Restricted Parking Zone will minimise the number of signs required in the area and remove the need for yellow lines, which can be unsightly in an historic conservation area.

• Pedestrian access - in addition to the works in Castle Street itself the project includes improvements to pedestrian access into the Historic Core. These include:
• Dean Taits Lane and a speed table across West Walls;
• Improve the existing speed table over West Walls at Heads Lane;
• Re-configure the junction of Abbey Street/Annetwell Street and West Walls using sandstone and exposing existing sett carriageway;
• Re-paving works at the junction of Devonshire Walk and Castle Way. Improving the pedestrian crossing using sandstone and natural materials.

The initial proposals were discussed at a special Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny workshop last Monday (13 August), also attended by members of the Highways Working Group.

In addition to the Executive next Tuesday (28 August), the proposals will also be discussed at the County Council's Highways Working Group on Wednesday, 5 September, the City Council's Full Council on Tuesday, 11 September and the County Council's Local Committee on Monday, 24 September.

If approval to progress the scheme is agreed a consultation with businesses and residents within the Castle Street area will be undertaken this autumn. Any agreed work is then proposed to start in January next year and could take between six and nine months to complete.