Pedestrianisation to go ahead

THE long-awaited pedestrianisation of one of Cardiff’s main arteries will begin on or around January 16, the Echo has learned.
Councillor Delme Bowen said the Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed that funding will be available for the paving of High Street and St Mary Street to go ahead.
The first phase of the work, during which high-quality paving will be laid, will start at the Cardiff Castle end of High Street and finish where the road becomes St Mary Street.
Councillor Bowen said all traffic, except for delivery lorries and the Free b bus, will be banned from the area.
But some taxis may be granted access.
The following two stages will take place later this year.
“This transition phase will be awkward for people trading in the area,” said Mr Bowen.
“But it will certainly be finished by 2011.”
The pedestrianisation scheme has been funded as part of the Sustainable Travel City initiative.
Mr Bowen said confirmation from the Assembly Government that the second tranche of Sustainable Travel City funding – £7.5m – would be made available in the 2010-2011 budget has finally enabled him to give the project the green light.
Cardiff Council is putting around £700,000 towards the cost of pedestrianisation.
He said between 2009 and 2011 around £2.5m will have been spent on High Street and St Mary Street.
Long-suffering retailers will be hoping the council can deliver on its prediction that pedestrianising the street will encourage more people to shop there.
They have complained that trade has been badly hit by continued upheavals in the street since partial pedestrianisation was first introduced in August 2007.
Around £2.5m will be spent pedestrianising High Street and St Mary Street

Jan 4 2010 by Abby Alford, South Wales Echo