Changes to Giles Circus

Please note, this consultation has now closed.

Background

The Council has successfully obtained a grant of £400k from the Haven Gateway to help fund public realm improvements in the King Street, and Lion Street, Princes Street, Queen Street, Giles Statue area of the town centre, which we are calling Giles Circus. As part of the grant application Ipswich Borough Council was required to part match fund the grant.

Improvement works are currently underway in Lion Street and King Street where the footways are being replaced with high quality yorkstone and the existing asphalt carriageway surface is being block paved.

Giles Circus proposals

The main objectives of the proposals for improvements are:

• To increase the size of the public space south of Barclays Bank;
• To provide a memorable public space;
• To replace the existing paving with a smaller number of higher quality materials;
• To relocate Giles Statue to a more prominent raised location, possibly with seating;
• To achieve the best possible visual improvement;
• To make the space as pedestrian friendly as possible.

We are consulting on three options for improving the public realm around Giles Circus as follows:

• Green Option
  This has an enlarged public space with kerbs defining the boundary between the footway and carriageway to give physical separation. Under this option the existing bus stop is relocated from Queen Street to outside the Royal Bank of Scotland in Princes Street;
• Purple Option
  This is the same as the Green Option but to increase pedestrian safety and to reduce noise and fumes, this option also stops buses from using the loop by relocating the existing bus stop in Queen Street to Friars Street;
• Blue Option
  This has the same enlarged public space as the Green Option but here the footways and carriageways are at the same level. This is known as shared space, which is a technique that has been used to great effect in a number of recent public realm improvement schemes around the country and in Europe. This technique removes the division between the motor vehicle and pedestrian and helps to great a better environmental ambiance. To increase pedestrian safety and to reduce noise and fumes this option also includes stops buses from using the loop by relocating the existing bus stop in Queen Street to Friars Street.

Evidence from other shared space schemes suggests that shared space areas are no less safe than areas with conventional footway and carriageways separated by a kerb.

The Purple and Blue Options both reduce traffic flow around the loop by relocating the existing bus stip in Queen Street to Friars Street.

There are a number of common elements to all the options as follows:

• An increase in the area of public space and a repaving of the whole area;
• Relocation of Giles Statue to a more prominent raised location;
• The installation of five mature trees to help soften the landscape;
• Reversal of traffic flow in Butter Market from west to east, to east to west;
• Removal of the existing zebra crossing;
• Reduction in the number of parking spaces on the east side of Princes Street;
• Removal / replacement of the existing bus stop in Queens Street to Princes Street or Friars Street;
• Removal of the taxi rank in Queens Street;
• Restricted parking zone covering Giles Circus, King Street and Lion Street;
• Allowing two way cycling in the Butter Market;
• Installation of motorcycle parking in Princes Street;
• An entry ramp on entering Giles Circus to temper vehicles speeds below the 20mph speed limit.

The existing six cycle stands at the Giles Statue are intended to be replaced by installing six stands near Barclay's Bank. The motorcycle parking would be replaced with new parking facilities in Princes Street, Tacket Street, High Street, Princes Street and greater capacity in Tower Ramparts.

To reduce the visual impact of yellow lining it is proposed that the Giles Statue area, King Street and Lion Street area is made into a restricted parking zone. This would allow parking and loading restrictions to be shown on a zone sign on entry to the area, plus a small number of repeater plates.

Cycles are currently only allowed to cycle eastwards in Butter Market. Under these proposals the intention is to reverse traffic flow in Butter Market allowing access into the Street by delivery vehicles from Upper Brook Street. Given the low usage of Butter Market by vehicles and the slow speed it is proposed to relax cycle access by allowing cyclists to cycle both directions.

3D Visualisations and Drawings of Options

The following JPG files show 3D visualisations of the options. The Green and Blue options are shown with and without trees for clarity.

• Existing Layout;
• Green kerbed space option - with trees;
• Green kerbed space option - without trees;
• Blue shared space option - with trees;
• Blue shared space option - without trees.

The following PDFs are drawings showing:

• Existing Layout;
• Green Option - kerbed, with buses stll able to travel around the loop;
• Purple Option - kerbed with buses removed from the loop;
• Blue Option - shared space with buses removed from the loop.

Public Consultation

We are hoping to use input from local users, businesses and other stakeholders, to shape one of these options into a firm design for implementation in the New Year.

A public consultation has been carried out, including a public event held in the Council Chambers at the Corn Exchange on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th November 2009, where plans of the options and further information were available.

Further Information

For further information please contact:

Graham Rankin
Tel: 01473 432821
Email: graham.rankin@ipswich.gov.uk

Peter Hussey
Tel: 01473 432805
Email: peter.hussey@ipswich.gov.uk