Council promotes cafe culture with Bold Street works

Liverpool City Council is looking to pedestrianise the full length of Bold Street, to encourage the café culture and music scene in the Ropewalks area of the city centre.

The scheme will be split into two phases. The first phase will include Bold Street and Seel Street, and phase two will move to Wood Street, Fleet Street, Slater Street, and Colquitt Street.

Funding of £4.5m has been secured for the first stage, from the Liverpool City Region’s Sustainable Transport Enhancement Package, with £3m provided from the Local Growth Fund and £1.5m coming from section 106 contributions.

As part of the Ropewalks proposals there could be new and improved seating and lighting, planting new trees and improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

The council is also looking to reverse the one-way traffic system on Seel Street, running from Gradwell Street to Berry Street and losing Seel Street between Colquitt Street and Slater Street at night time.

According to the council, the aim of the proposals is to reduce the amount of traffic collisions, improve the connections to and around this area of the city centre, and support and help attract future investment.

The city council is holding a public consultation event on the proposals on Monday 19 March in The Box at FACT, 88 Wood St, from 2pm to 8pm.

Cllr Ann O’Byrne, deputy Mayor of Liverpool, said: “Bold Street and the Ropewalks area in general has transformed in the past 10 years as the edgy bohemian heart of Liverpool led by a new wave of creative, independent businesses.

“Both the daytime and night time economies in this part of the city centre has flourished and created new demands in terms of traffic and the time has come to provide some solutions.

“Pedestrianising the full length of Bold Street has the potential to cement this amazingly colourful, vibrant street as one of the most dynamic in Britain.”

Once consultation is complete and the Ropewalks plans have been approved, it is anticipated the works will begin on phase one in January 2019 and be completed by November.

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If anything, pedestrianising the whole area would be to its detriment. Why not limit cars to certain hours and parking for max 1 hour to ensure constant turnaround. There’s no sufficient provision for parking in that area aside from the L1 schemes, then is the area enough of a draw to justify as in say Soho etc? The pavements are never too busy, just needs a more regulated and integrated traffic management system.

By J

That CGI looks like st helens town centre

By J

Brilliant idea

By Bradford

Q: Which part of Bold St currently feels more ‘edgy, bohemian, independent and creative’? A: It’s not the lower pedestrianised zone, the only section with both multiples and vacant premises. Let’s be careful what we wish for.

By LEighteen

The continued pedestrianization of large areas of Liverpool will only have a detrimental effect on business and give the city a small town vibe.

Traffic flow has been messed up here by the council a few years ago, especially around Seel Street.

By Ste

Love Bold Street

By Dan

What do the businesses say! Would not being able to stop and pop into shops reduce the amount of footfall!?
Having to pay and display and walk a distance to get to the shops could put people off going to that area

By Stuart wood

further pedestrianising the city is a bad move.

By Lilbet

Disagree with the majority of posts. I think it will look good. There’s two multi storey car parks within spitting distance of bold street. Both of which are cheaper than onstreet parking and have shed loads of disabled spaces. But I agree that the picture makes it look a bit small town. Maybe something a bit more imaginative could be done?

By Gary

I’m dead against it. People forget that traders needs access to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiixons

By Alan Partridge

50 years sago doing A-level economics in Liverpool we had a major project to do on “How to save Bold Street/” Not much changes.

By Old Hack

Very encouraging from LCC to spend on this key part of Central Liverpool by removing the ugly street clutter, bollards, signposts and traffic signals. Some well thought out tree planting will be the making of this part of the city with a grand public piazza in front of the Bold Street Lyceum linking to Church Street. Exciting stuff and potentially could be Liverpool’s Covent Garden.

By lpllandscape

Will still need access for emergency vehicles, don’t exactly see the point.

By Blob

Can the person boasting about two multi storey car parks close by??? advise how a Disabled Citizen gets from these car parks into Bold St please? Have a go wheeling yourself up/down there, you will have the shakes,possible damage to wheels and be hoarse from requesting those blocking the pavements, blissfully unaware, that you need to get by!

By Cathy Wilson

Need more protection and provision for cyclists in the area but I think better to keep the cars.
As for removing clutter- look at Chirch Street with more and more junk- now black advertising boxes posing as “telephone boxes”.

By Tim

I agree about the street clutter. Councils can’t resist putting more and more street furniture in. The Pier Head was lovely and clear, now it’s an obstacle course.

By James84

Brilliant 21st Century, progressive plan that will massively increase footfall that is currently squeezed on its narrow pavements. Cyclists and pedestrians will flock here and folk will revel in the peace and freedom.

By Derek Gould

The majority of research actually shows the contrary to the concerns voiced here. Pedestrianisation and public realm investment have been shown to significantly increase footfall and turnover for retailers. There’s a wealth of literature available online that demonstrates this trend.

As for those with concerns for emergency vehicle and disabled access/ parking – these will obviously be retained due to legal requirements.

By R

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