Fylde triggers pair of St Annes projects
Phase two of a masterplan for the town centre, comprising the Pier Link and Garden Street schemes, has been put into motion this week with contractor George Cox & Sons now on site.
Fylde Council said the work will improve links between the town centre, the seafront and Ashton Gardens.
The £1.6m Pier Link project is funded by Fylde Council, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Lancashire County Council. The £1.5m Garden Street project is funded by Fylde Council and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Both are being delivered by George Cox & Sons, which successfully completed phase one of the St Annes improvement programme.
The Pier Link project is intended to transform the route between the newly improved St Annes Square and the promenade.
Traffic will become one-way, travelling from Clifton Drive South towards the pier, creating a safer environment for pedestrians and additional space for wider pavements, planting and seating.
Planting, paving and bike travel are all in focus. Credit: Fylde Council
Raised crossing tables will calm traffic while keeping pavements level for wheelchair users and those with pushchairs.
Work has also now started on the Garden Street project, creating a pedestrian-friendly link to Ashton Gardens. The design adds seasonal planting to existing mature trees in a scheme that will improve access to bus stops and see new seating introduced along with new lighting.
Both schemes form part of the overall project masterplanned by BDP. Gosling Consulting is also on the design team for Pier Link.
Cube seating will be introduced at Garden Street. Credit: Fylde Council
Cllr Karen Buckley, Leader of Fylde Council, said: “These projects build brilliantly on the success of St Annes Square, creating accessible, attractive connections that will help our businesses thrive while making it easier for residents and visitors to enjoy everything our beautiful town centre and stunning seafront have to offer.”
During the Pier Link works, St Annes Road West between Clifton Drive and the Promenade will be fully closed. Some traffic management will be in place, with clear signposting for all diversions. Access to the Town Hall will be maintained for vehicles and pedestrians.
A couple of great interventions – and Fylde does actually get things built and to speed.
By Rye
The roads are falling apart across the borough yet the council decides that the perfectly good road Infront of the town hall needs over 1.5 million spent on it. Pointless vanity project.
By Simon
They need to repair the pot holes, the pavements are already wider than a lot of towns in the area. It’s a waste of money and time.
By Mrs Susan poulter
I have been to St Anne’s hundreds of times and never see road safety or crossing roads as an issue. Local drivers are very polite towards visitors and I thank them for this. This kind of money would be put to better use in improving schools thus improving the economy for years to come.
By Anonymous
Wonderful but howabout fixing the multiple roads blighted by potholes around our area
By John. Driver
What a total waste of money
By Christine Howarth
How sad that the potholes were not given priority.
By Anonymous
Only seems to be one winner here and that’s George Cox and son. The amounts given are obscene. The roads are a disgrace. A petition re surfacing for elderly and disabled walking at Waddington Park wasn’t even acknowledged by the Town Hall. Very disrespectful to local rate payers.
By Mel
Would like to see the actual pier being maintained first. What is the point in creating links to the pier when it’s being left to ruin. Pier is the focal point of that whole road more effort and money should be put into the pier.
By Anonymous
As with other comments there was nothing wrong with the road money needlessly spent again could have been used to upgrade a lot of other roads
By Paul
This looks really nice, great to see pedestrians and not cars having money and time spent on them. Very pleased to see wheelchair access taken into account, just hope something like this happens in Cleveleys – where the dropped kerbs on the high street aren’t opposite each other!!
By Kathy :)
More freedom for aggressive and inconsiderate law-breaking electric bike users
By Dave Allen
Why not do work that is necessary and vital first. We all want the area to be constantly upgraded. Potholes first and there are many of those. Main road through Warton like a cart track. The new works in Kirkham and St Annes centres are purely cosmetic. In Kirkham the centre is like a waste land and St Añes will head the same way.
By Geoff
Total waste of time an money. All this will do is make residential streets more conjested. These streets are already made into 1 way streets due to parking. If the council want to make traffic and pedestrians safer a multi story car park would be better and no parking restrictions put in place
By Anne
Complete waste of time and money making it a one way road, you are just moving traffic into the roads either side
By Saddened