From the Herald Express

Below is an article from the local paper, Local traders are upset that the sea front will now be closed for 7 weeks instead of the 6 weeks that was promised. Some of them are demanding that Fleet Street be opened up to cars and taxis as well as buses. There is a bend in the middle of Fleet Street which means you can not see if the road is clear. We, the bus drivers can talk to each other over the radio and tell drivers to wait if the road is blocked. Car drivers can not and it would be chaos if cars came into Fleet St. Belive me, I'm a bus driver and I have driven up and down there at least ten thousand times and know how difficult that 300 metre stretch of road can be. You want the biggest traffic jam Torquay has ever known? Let cars into Fleet St.
This is the small queue that builds up when cars do get into Fleet St illegally from Braddons Hill Road West. Let them all come in and see if I care.

TRADERS' PLEA: SAVE OUR SHOPS



01 March 2008


Struggling Fleet Street traders in Torquay today demanded a trade-boosting lifeline as they suffer during the prolonged closure of the resort's main seafront road.They want traffic allowed back into Fleet Street in a desperate bid to claw back lost trade in the wake of the Rock Walk clearance work.Torbay Council says it is doing all it can, but one trader told the Herald Express: "We've been left to die."



The renewed call for help comes as Torbay Council has admitted the promenade route will be closed to vehicles for a further two weeks.


Contractors have been appointed to build a £43,000 safety barrier to allow vehicles to flow along Torbay Road free from the danger of possible rock falls.But the task will take up to a fortnight, with work on the cliff itself not expected to even start before the end of the summer.



Ailing traders in the town centre want semi-pedestrianised Fleet Street opened up until the temporary structure is in place.Torbay Council, who have not rejected the proposal outright, say they have safety concerns about changing the flow of traffic. But they have promised to consider free and cut-price parking as an alternative.There are already plans for traffic to be allowed on the seaward side of Torbay Road in both directions.Work on a barrier will start on Monday, involving a 410-metre scaffolding and board structure along the length of the carriageway from the old toll house to the Torbay Hotel."



Michelle Curtis, of the Seconds Out watch shop at the GPO roundabout in Torquay, said it was already 'chaos' in Fleet Street so it might as well be opened to one-way traffic.She said: "The whole town is dead. They should open it one-way while the seafront is closed. Something has got to be sorted out. Everybody is suffering here.You just have to look at the number of empty shops."



Martin Hayward, controller at Torquay Taxis, estimated that about a dozen people had rung up to get a cab to drive to the Imperial Hotel... so they could follow it in their cars.He said: "It's been unbelievable. There are no signs directing people all the way around. Visitors have been getting totally lost. One chap I guided up there in my own private car because he had been looking for it for over two hours. It would really help to have Fleet Walk open to us.



Robert Excell, chairman of South Devon Chamber of Trade, said they had asked before Rock Walk work started for Fleet Walk to be opened one way and for free parking.He said: "I am very concerned and don't want to see that road closed for one day longer than necessary. It is really affecting people and we are putting as much pressure as we can on to get the work done as quickly as possible and the council is doing all it can."I think there could be problems with the condition of Fleet Street. It was only designed for the smaller buses not double deckers."Half price parking is a concession, it is better than nothing.



But we will continue to ask for a better deal for the traders who are suffering big time.""I am not sure about opening Fleet Walk as in places it is quite narrow and if there are buses going one way and traffic the other it could cause chaos. The buses would not be happy if they couldn't use Fleet Street."If free parking is feasible and it attracts more people into town, maybe we should go for that."



Deputy mayor Kevin Carroll said they hoped to have the road re-opened in two week's time."We want to get work started on Monday. We will be putting up scaffolding and painting the seaward side."We are looking at some of the fringe car parks, not the town centre ones, and reduce charges to encourage people to use them more."I know the road has been closed for a long time but it is only two weeks longer and we have done everything in our power to get it reopened as soon as we can."Retailing is going through a difficult period nationally, and February is always flat, but hopefully the parking charge reduction will help."But he said they would continue half-price parking in Shedden Hill, Beacon Quay and The Terrace.



Cabinet Member councillor Chris Lewis said: "A number of options were considered for the diversion. The seafront road is the A379 and as such any diversion routes should be along similar sized roads that can safely take the size and volume of traffic."Fleet Street is a shared surface road and is currently only open to buses during the day which, through a local agreement, drive at 10mph with their lights on."While the safety record for Fleet Street is relatively good we have in the past received concerns from pedestrians who feel intimidated by the level of traffic that already exists."It would make the situation far worse if Fleet Street was open to all traffic, even in a one-way direction."As the existing street was designed to allow pedestrians to share the space with the buses, it would not be appropriate for all traffic to use the road. The sheer volume of traffic would also make it almost impossible for the bus services to travel in the opposite direction through the narrow sections of the road."



"We are doing everything we can to ensure that at least one side of the seafront road is open as soon as possible." A further meeting with geological experts will take place next week with the full cost not revealed until May.



A contract can then be put out to tender with work not expected to start until after the summer.