You can send your feedback and additional idea to Suffolk County Council by emailing transport.schemes@suffolk.gov.uk. Cycle Ipswich are also interested in hearing people’s ideas via our usual contact channels.
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
Cycle Ipswich are keen that as many of the schemes are implemented as possible, with a push for further improvements where appropriate, for example expanding road closures to cover a whole area between 2 main roads to prevent rat running between main roads, creating a full quieter neighbourhood similar to the GoDutch scheme in Waltham Forrest in London.
Some councillors have expressed an interest in hearing people’s views too, so also send them a copy of the email. You can find out your local councillors by using writetothem, or the council websites.
Sir Alf Ramsey Way, Portman Road, and Great Gipping Street are part of National Cycle Route 51. The National Cycle Network is meant to be low motor traffic to enable more people to cycle safely, especially children.
Map showing National Cycle Route 51 passing the planned car park.
Considering the above plans, having an entrance to the car park and encouraging more motor vehicle movements along Portman Road should not be allowed, as this will make the road more dangerous for walking and cycling.
2.
The details of the cycle parking don’t appear to be included in the plans, and seem to be an afterthought.
3.
On match days motor vehicle movements around the stadium should be minimised by closing all nearby car parks to all vehicles except coaches, buses, blue badge holders, cyclists, and other small wheeled transport, also running shuttle buses from/to the park and ride sites. This would prevent the grid lock and increased air pollution that happens on the streets near the stadium before and after each match.
4.
Both Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council have called a climate emergency. How can building a car park and encouraging more people to drive into the town centre align with the climate emergency? How does this proposal help to tackle climate change? It’s also worth noting Ipswich Local Plan (2017) Policy Summary CS1 regarding the need for sustainable development to tackle climate change.
5.
With regard to Ipswich Local Plan (2017) Policy Summary, Policy CS20 around “aims to reduce dependency on the private car by 15%”, how does this planning application contribute to this?
6.
Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council have statutory obligation to have legal levels of air pollution. This will require reducing the number of motor vehicles in Ipswich town centre. The relevant guidance is the Local Air Quality Management Technical Guidance (TG16) https://laqm.defra.gov.uk/documents/LAQM-TG16-February-18-v1.pdf
7.
Cycle Ipswich recognises that motor vehicles are required for some journeys, however there is currently too much cheap car parking in Ipswich town centre. This cheap car parking is encouraging more driving, making the roads less safe for people who wish to walk and cycling. It is possible to transport young children and shopping on a bike, where larger items need to be transported car sharing or delivery services (which may be pedal powered on specially built bikes as PedalMe https://pedalme.co.uk in London have shown) are an option.
Suffolk County Council have announced a series of proposed schemes to help walking, cycling, and other similar modes to be easier with the current pandemic due to the social distancing required to reduce the spread of the virus. The measures need to be implemented very quickly whilst traffic levels are still low from the lockdown. If we wait too long or spend a long time discussing the measures, then it’ll be too late to implement the measures.
Cycle Ipswich are very encouraged by the list, more work will be required longer term to extend some of the measures to create a full network of strategic cycle routes on main roads, and low traffic neighbourhoods.
The emergency measures that have already been implemented should have been implemented years ago. The schemes already implemented are:
Waterfront
2020-05-06 Waterfront road closure West
2020-05-06 Waterfront middle closure to motor vehicles
2020-05-06 Waterfront East closure to motor vehicles
Milner Street
Milner Street rat run closure
Fuchsia Lane Bridge
2020-06-09 Fuchsia Lane Bridge walking and cycling only
2020-06-09 Fuchsia Lane Bridge walking and cycling only
2020-06-09 Fuchsia Lane Bridge walking and cycling only
2020-06-09 Approach to Fuchsia Lane Bridge walking and cycling only
Wellesley Road Bridge
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
2020-06-09 Wellesley Road Barriers
The new schemes proposed within Ipswich are:
Portman Road
Rushmere Area
Princes Street
Colchester Road/Valley Road
Bixley Road/Heath Road
Bramford Lane
Bridge Street Slip Road
Rosehill Area
Various locations – reduced waiting times to cross roads
Various locations – increased cycle parking – Please let us, Suffolk County Council, and your local councillors know where you’d like to see more cycle parking.
Changes have also been proposed as part of the emergency measures in Bury St Edmunds, Beccles, Felixstowe, Stowmarket, and Sudbury.
To provide feedback on any of the proposed schemes as well as to make any recommendations for other locations please email Suffolk County Council at transport.schemes@suffolk.gov.uk 🙂
2020-05-06 Waterfront East closure to motor vehicles
Central Government are providing councils with funding to help provide more social distancing due to the limited capacity on public transport, and the grid lock that would occur if a significant portion of the population would switch from public transport to private cars. This funding is for dramatic changes to help people walk and cycle.
Cycle Ipswich have supplied Suffolk County Council some of their ideas of what could be implemented.
2020-05-06 Waterfront East closure to motor vehicles has already been implemented. More like this could be implemented.
