Update on St Ives Town Deal Low Carbon Transport Strategy

Following the consultation for the St Ives Low Carbon Transport Strategy, which took place between November 2023 and January 2024, members of the project team have spent the past two months analysing all the responses.

The St Ives Low Carbon Transport Strategy is being funded and delivered as part of the St Ives Town Deal programme to help reduce the impact of vehicles on St Ives and introduce measures that encourage walking, cycling and the use of public transport.

The resident population in St Ives increases dramatically during the summer months when more than 500,000 day visitors and 220,000 staying tourists visit the town. Currently many opt to travel into the town by car, leading to significant congestion in the narrow streets around the town centre and harbour area.

The project has been allocated £5.5 million of Town Deal funding to create a Low Transport Environment (LTE) within the town centre by reducing traffic, enhancing safety, increasing accessibility, improving environmental health and delivering community and economic benefits. This funding needs to be spent by March 2026. Longer term measures will need to be funded from other sources.

Developed in partnership with key stakeholders, the initial draft Strategy contained several proposals aimed at reducing traffic congestion and parking demand in the town centre, enhancing public transport options and accessibility, improving air quality and health outcomes for residents and visitors and supporting local businesses by creating a more attractive and vibrant town.

Many of the proposals outlined in the first phase of the Strategy, including the junctions at Malakoff, Stennack, Zennor, and Halsetown, and the Station car park, the widening of footways and pavements and the improvements in public transport, were supported by members of the Town Deal Board in February.

However it was agreed that further work was needed on the development of the One Way System and some elements of the Low Traffic Environment.

A decision on the final version of the Strategy will be made at the next meeting of St Ives Town Deal Board in May.

Over 450 people took part in consultation. The majority of those responding via the survey (69.9%) said that the environment in the town centre needed changing and improving, with most supporting the principles of improving walking and cycling facilities, reducing level of traffic and improving public transport. However, there were different views on how this should be achieved.

After reviewing the feedback from the consultation, and listening to the comments and concerns subsequently raised by some individuals and community groups living and working in areas which could be affected by specific proposals, the project team have made some changes to the original proposals.

“We would like to thank everyone who took part in the consultation and worked with us to identify possible problem areas, and are now helping to work towards solutions “ said Johnnie Wells, Chair of the Transport Sub Committee. “Everyone knows that traffic is an issue in St Ives and there are no easy answers; the consultation reinforced that there is a mandate for change and that is what we are trying to achieve. “

Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council cabinet portfolio holder for economy, said: “This Town Deal funding is designed to provide a catalyst for making improvements that will benefit residents for years to come. It’s important that residents have their say on proposals for their community and, as we can see with the response to the low carbon transport strategy, those views have been taken into account and changes made as a result.”

Following concerns raised about the use of physical restrictions , the project team are now looking into the use of alternative methods to discourage people without legitimate reasons from driving into the town centre during certain periods.

This means that it is unlikely physical restrictions / barriers will be used to prevent access to the town centre. Although the project team expect that the wider measures to improve public transport and traffic management changes around the town will, by design, reduce the number of vehicles entering the town centre, they are hoping the community will play their part in supporting the Low Traffic Environment by changing their behaviour.

“Whilst the majority of those responding to the consultation supported the principle of restricting access to the town centre at busy times, the logistics of ensuring access for those who need it when they need it has proved very difficult for an unmanned system “ said Johnnie Wells, “I am delighted that, in response to those concerns, we are going to look at other solutions for that part of the project.”

A newly installed traffic monitoring system will provide information and data on the levels and types of traffic entering the town centre following the implementation of the LTE. This will help the project team to understand the effectiveness and benefits of the changes and identify where additional measures might be required in the future to help support or enforce the LTE.

Additional measures within the LTE to make the town centre safer and more attractive for pedestrians and cyclists by widening footways, enhancing crossings points, providing additional seating, and managing obstructive parking will, it is hoped, encourage more local people to leave their cars at home.

As the plans to improve the junctions at the Terrace, Stennack and Higher Stennack, Zennor and Malakoff, received a largely positive response from the majority of respondents, work is continuing to develop these schemes.

The project team have also been listening to the concerns raised by people living in areas outside the town, such as Halsetown, who are worried about increases in traffic as a result of more visitors being signposted to drive through the area, and the current lack of footways. Further work is being carried out to assess the level of potential increases in traffic created by the proposal, together with the development of measures to mitigate the impact from this.

“It is great that we have also managed to secure some traffic calming measures for both Halsetown and Lelant as part of the Strategy. “ said Johnnie Wells. “This has been a long and ongoing issue and it is really satisfying that we have been able to use funding from this project to deliver for these places too.

Further work is also being carried out on the draft proposal to introduce a one way system around Library Corner and up Tregenna Hill and the reversing of the existing one-way restriction on Park Avenue.

Aimed at reducing the delays, impact and congestion caused by vehicles having to navigate oncoming traffic and making it easier for buses, lorries and other large vehicles to get around the narrow points and corners along the route, these changes, together with improvements to pavements and footways, are designed to provide a safer space for pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.

Although the general principle of the one-way system was welcomed by a significant number of those who responded during the consultation, some people raised concerns over how this would work in practice and whether the changes would prevent access and movement for emergency vehicles and result in adverse consequential impacts to local residents.

“By removing head to head traffic in key problem areas such as Library Corner, we are hoping to improve traffic flow through the town and reducing vehicle dwell times in the narrow streets. “ said Johnnie Wells. “Also, by directing the flow of traffic away from the town centre and towards the larger car parks on the edges of St Ives we hope to reduce the incidence of visitors getting lost in the town.”

The proposal to provide additional parking outside the town centre to encourage visitors and commuters to continue their journey by bus, rail, or walking or cycling, was largely welcomed during the consultation. However, some concerns were raised about the impact of changes to parking in the town centre on the local community. Although there will be a focus on discouraging ad hoc and dangerous parking in the town centre, and a small reduction in overall parking, the aim is to maintain or increase parking spaces for local residents through the use of permit only parking.

“Thanks to the benefits we will see from Cornwall Council rolling out its “20 is plenty” campaign to reduce traffic speeds across Cornwall, and the capacity increases that are coming to the St Ives branch line, please remember that getting to St Ives doesn't have to always be by car” said Johnnie Wells.

Other issues identified during the consultation included the need to improve public transport. While there were many positive comments about particular bus and train services, concerns were raised about the reliability and frequency of services, particularly at evening and weekends, the need for improved signage at the bus and train stations, overcrowding and insufficient capacity in peak seasons. There were also calls to provide better and safer waiting areas at bus stops and improved information through the use of digital information boards.

All these matters are currently being discussed with transport operators with the aim of incorporating reasonable measures into the Town Deal delivery.

Next steps

The full report setting out the responses to the consultation and measures to address concerns is due to be published by the end of March.

The project team will then work with all parts of the local community to identify any further amendments so the proposals deliver the aims of the Strategy at the same time as meeting the needs of local residents and businesses. Details of any changes will be discussed at the meeting of the Town Deal Board in May.

Work is currently due to begin on implementing the first phase of the Strategy in Autumn 2024. This would see improvements to the junctions at Malakoff, Stennack, Zennor, and Halsetown, and the Station car park taking place from October and November.

These would be followed by improvements to the Terrace junction in Feb 2025, with works to Library Corner and the creation of the Low Traffic Environment due to take place in October 2025, and the changes to Tempest Roundabout in January 2026.

No planned works would be carried out during the Summer seasons.

In 2021, St Ives was among 100 places in the country to be awarded a share of the £3.6bn Town Deal funding by the Government as part its Levelling Up ambition, securing a deal of £19.9 million to regenerate the town.

Ends

Notes to Editors

About the UK Government Town Deals programme

Part of the government’s plan for Levelling Up the UK economy and the wider Towns Fund, the Town Deals programme aims to regenerate towns and deliver long-term economic and productivity growth. This is through investments in urban regeneration, digital and physical connectivity, skills, heritage and enterprise infrastructure. As of July 2021, DLUHC have offered Town Deals to all 101 places that submitted proposals, committing over £2.35bn of investment across c.700 projects nationwide. See the press releases associated with Town Deals on gov.uk.

About the St Ives Town Deal

In June 2021, St Ives secured a Town Deal of up to £19.9 million following the successful submission of its Town Investment Plan for a range of regeneration projects. For more information about St Ives Town Deal visit www.stivestowndeal.org.uk

Cornwall is the only area invited by the Government to submit proposals for four of its towns: Camborne, Penzance, St Ives and Truro. After conducting extensive public consultations, each Town Deal Board submitted their Town Investment Plan in collaboration with Cornwall Council. As a result, the Government announced in spring 2021, that Cornwall will receive up to £88.7 million from the Town Deals programme.

Cornwall Council is the Lead Authority for the Town Deals in Cornwall. Cornwall Council supports the governance role of St Ives Town Deal Board and is responsible for administering the Fund on behalf of the Board.

For more information visit: www.cornwall.gov.uk/business-trading-and-licences/economic-development/towns-fund