Boots Corner in Cheltenham to re-open to traffic

Re-opening Boots Corner to all cars will be “chaos” and “devastating” for Cheltenham, the leader of the borough council said, as councillors voted to abandon the pilot traffic ban today.

Reacting to Gloucestershire County Council’s decision to allow all types of vehicles to drive through the main town centre through route, Clarence Street, Steve Jordan said he is “massively disappointed” in the result.

The county council’s cabinet approved the re-opening of Boots Corner this morning after the authority’s traffic regulation committee recommended the move earlier this week.

The authority said it will work to re-open Boots Corner “as quickly as possible” from December 28, which is when the trial period is scheduled to end, and “within budget”.

The section of Clarence Street, known locally as Boots Corner, has been closed since June 2018, banning general traffic from using the route as part of Cheltenham Borough Council-led scheme to make the town centre through-route more pedestrian friendly.

Cheltenham Business Improvement District (BID) said once the trial is reversed “we will be able to see from footfall figures if it made a difference”.

Speaking in today’s meeting, councillor Nigel Moor said the borough council “failed to persuade the public the advantages outweigh the disadvantages”.

Speaking after the meeting, councillor Steve Jordan said: “I think this is devastating for Cheltenham.

“We’ve been badly let down by the county council. The really disappointing thing is most people have actually supported this. We’ve known from the recent residents survey that only nine per cent that the residents of Cheltenham had a concern about Boots Corner.

“Clearly a number of people have expressed objections but that’s a fairly small proportion. By contrast a huge number say that improving walking, cycling and public transport are a key priority.

“It’s never been about just the economy of the town, it’s been about the environment and the economy.”

“It is massively disappointing that the county council have now scraped this at this moment and we will see what happens next.

“I suspect it will be a chaos but we will see shortly. In a short answer I don’t know. Everything we’ve geared up to was based on that it would be a success, everything shows it has been.

“The evidence has shown the trial was successful which the county council has decided to ignore on the basis of a few loud noises.

“To abandon the trial at this stage is really bad news.”

Cheltenham BID director Kevan Blackadder said: “In all honesty time will tell. We had such diverse views from businesses.

“There were some who said they were affected by it and had real problems, and there were others who said it was helping the whole high street.

“The positive thing here is we will be able to compare the footfall figures from during the trial and after, and see if it made a difference.”