Concerns over the Ryde Interchange proposals — which include demolishing a cafe and public toilets — have been raised by the town’s residents and business owners.
As part of the Transforming Cities Fund, the Isle of Wight has received £10m out of a joint bid between Hampshire and Portsmouth to increase connectivity for travellers, while making the area around the pier a safer place.
Planned improvements
In Ryde, the proposals come from the Isle of Wight Council to improve the bus station and Esplanade highways layout, Wightlink to install a dedicated footpath and cycle track on the disused tramway up the pier and, in yet to be announced plans, South Western Railway look set to upgrade the train station.
However, concerns over the council’s plans to rework the Esplanade have drawn criticism from businesses, residents and a key figure of the regeneration working group.
Having resigned from the group so she could share the plans, Cathy Foulkes has raised faults with the plans for not complying with previous designs, reports from influential parties and a seeming unwillingness to change the layout.
Cathy argues that despite the funding being given for sustainable transport, there are more roads, the potential for even more traffic build-up and a lack of public amenities with the demolition of the most-used public toilets on the Island and the cafe at the start of the pier.
Previous designs disregarded
Using reports from public bodies and experts, the proposals, Cathy says, go against recommendations, including road layout designs from 2005 which included a roundabout to manage the level of traffic 16 years ago, but have been disregarded in favour of the current proposals, which she says will make delays significantly worse.
Historic England: Pedestrians should be prioritised
Historic England said, following their visit in June 2019, it would be a ‘disaster if the design of the Esplanade was based on traffic-engineering considerations’ and the council should seek to reduce the number of traffic movements along the Esplanade to create a pedestrian-friendly environment.
Newton: Not designed completely with vehicles in mind
The Isle of Wight Council’s strategic manager for regeneration infrastructure and transport capital programme Dave Newton, however, said he would completely challenge the idea that the current proposals had been designed with vehicle engineering in mind. Also, that there is more square mileage of highway than there currently is.
He said,
“While that is incredibly important and has a high priority because this is about improving sustainable transport and the funding that comes along to enable that, we have strived to, and I believe we have, hugely improved the pedestrian priority in the area.
“We have made that space much more pedestrian-friendly in these proposals, and I am open to opinions which is why we are having a consultation.”
Mr Newton said if you walk through the bus station at the moment, it feels as if you are walking through a bus car park and are not welcome, something he wants to reverse.
He said,
“The buses play an important part in this, but they are not entirely golden which I would suggest the situation currently is: to achieve that we have increased the amount of pedestrian-friendly space.”
Toilets and cafe in train station
Mr Newton said the proposals are to include public toilets and the cafe in the train station.
Although the plans may show a loss of planting, Mr Newton said they are looking to put more greenery elsewhere and it is important to the council to maintain the tulip tree.
Cabinet decision
The Isle of Wight Council cabinet is being asked to approve the implementation of the scheme at its July meeting, while also authorising the director of neighbourhoods to make the final decisions, informed by the findings of the consultation process.
The council’s consultation is running until 3rd August: more details can be found on the Website.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
