Scrap the pedestrianisation of Brigg town centre and allow cars through Bigby Street into Bridge Street while building a new covered market off Cary Lane to put life back into "our dead town" in which most businesses are "on their knees."
Some new ideas being mooted today within North Lincolnshire Council? Actually, no - these are suggestions made about 20 years ago by Brigg and District Licensees' Association.For some reason preserved among my cricket archives, I've just discovered a copy of a hard-hitting letter sent by the association to Glanford Borough Council chief executive David Cameron (copies also going to the then Brigg MP Michael Brown, to Brigg Chamber of Trade and to Brigg Town Council). Unfortunately, there's no date on the correspondence.
The licensees said: "After careful analysis of the way Glanford planners have been performing during the last two years, the members unanimously voted a no confidence motion and cited an overwhelming groundswell of public opinion that they (Glanford Borough Council) have got it wrong."
Four main points were made, accusing the council of:
- "Interfering" with the private sector by buying the Angel Hotel.
- Closing the Corn Exchange prematurely.
- "Bulldozing" through the relief road (Barnard Avenue) and pedestrianisation scheme.
- Demolishing the cattle market without due consideration to alternative uses for the site.
The licensees suggested a covered food market for the old cattle market site (where Tesco now is) and wanted a community hall there "instead of pursuing the idea of a third supermarket which in a recent public hearing was massively rejected."
The licensees said: "We would like to see an immediate halt to the scheme and consideration given to the opening of Bigby Street through to Bridge Street to allow two-way transit through for light vehicles to regain a little bustle back into our dead town."
They urged the council: "Please consider these points carefully because the future of Brigg is already in question with most businesses on their knees."
The licensees were reacting to a Sunday in early December "when yet again unannounced roadworks took place with the direct result that Brigg was thrown into turmoil with many areas of the town centre cut off. Sunday lunch trade suffered drastically."
Returning to the present day, what should we make of all this? And what's happened in subsequent years? - Glanford refused to stop work on the pedestrianisation scheme.
- The suggestion to allow cars through the Market Place and over the County Bridge was made many times, but always declined.
- The Victorian Corn Exchange was not only closed but demolished.
- The Angel Hotel was transformed into offices for North Lincolnshire Council staff, with Brigg Town Council taking part of it and introducing the Angel Suite community venue.
- The covered market never appeared...unless we count Tesco, which provides much of what the market might have sold, and a great deal more.
My personal view - shared, I think by many Brigg folk - is pedestrianisation has indeed made our town a much more pleasant place to shop and visit banks and pubs, without those cars and lorries speeding by just a few feet from the pavement.
This was always Glanford Borough Council's forecast, and in that it was proved perfectly correct. Council leader Terry Atherton had been to Beverley and seen a similar scheme work well in the North Bank town. He felt Brigg's future was offering a range of speciality shops people would come specially to visit.
However, there's no doubt Brigg has lost much passing trade. Whereas once people would draw up outside a shop and nip in to make a quick purchase (remember Bowen's in Wrawby Street?), they now have to find somewhere to park - not always easy - and then walk to the shops. Pay-and-display in Old Courts Road is hugely unpopular, while Tesco parking, although free and greatly appreciated, is away from the main shopping area.
Many people who've never been to Brigg, or haven't popped in since the pedestrianisation scheme, now drive along the A18, down Barnard Avenue, without ever seeing the fine range of shops we have, plus pubs and fine old listed buildings in the Conservation Area. That's the downside to pedestrianisation.
How many more tourists, and day visitors, might Brigg attract "on spec" if motorists were routed down Bridge Street, through the Market Place
(pictured), Wrawby Street and Bigby Street?
You can picture them motoring into the town centre and thinking: "This looks a nice place to stop for a break."
Yet there's no doubt that through traffic would make the town centre much less attractive. You couldn't have York stone paving, for example. And the age-old problem of having to dodge the cars would return, making the place less welcoming to visitors.
Like many, I was against pedestrianisation when it was mooted - but now I have to admit Terry Atherton and his Glanford colleagues were right, although not 100 per cent right. However, I can fully understand why small businesses in the town centre might disagree with that view.
Has pedestrianisation proved worthwhile? What do you think? Give us your views now through this link PEDESTRIANISATION
