A consultation is currently underway on the draft Vision for Newbury Town Centre. West Berkshire Council has engaged Hemingway Design to help develop the vision and manage the consultation, which will run until 16 July.

The vision has been informed by a previous public engagement exercise, which ran from December 2020 to January 2021 and attracted over 4,000 responses. The results from this latest consultation will be used to inform the preparation of the spatial vision and masterplan, with a draft report expected at the end of August.

This will then form the basis of the Newbury Town Centre Vision Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). This in turn will be subject to a formal consultation in the autumn prior to adoption later in the year. Once adopted, it will set the formal planning framework for the future regeneration and development of the town centre.

The Vision includes many elements that you would expect. addressing concerns about the retail and leisure offers within the town centre, improving Market Place and Northbrook Street, and making better use of the canal. It is good to see that the vision recognises what other studies have shown, which is that people who live close to the town centre and walk and cycle there, visit more frequently and spend more money.

Improving access for walking and cycling trips is identified as an aspiration within the Vision, but it is recognised that these options will not be viable for all and there will still be a need to accommodate travel by car in future, which is reasonable.

The need to improve access to parks and open spaces is recognised, particularly Victoria Park, as well as improving access to and between these areas by walking and cycling. Signage within the town centre currently focuses on walking trips, with cycling barely featuring on any of the signs and monoliths.

Some questions do remain in relation to proposals set out in the Vision document, such as how future usage of the towpath will be managed if flows of pedestrians and cyclists increase. The towpath forms part of National Cycle Route 4 and is a key route for through-trips as well as those with the town centre as its destination.

There is also a proposal for a new pedestrian bridge between Bridge Street and Parkway, but it is not clear if this will be open to cyclists.

The Vision indicates a desire to make better use of the alleys off Northbrook Street – again it is worth noting that NCN4 makes use of Northcroft Lane, which although narrow, currently has few shops and is relatively lightly used by pedestrians.

Finally, there are proposals to allocate more space to pavement cafes and landscaping in Northbrook Street. However, this will inevitably restrict the space available for movement, and it would be good to understand how this space will be managed in order to minimise conflict between pedestrians and cyclists. As with the towpath, it should be recognised that Northbrook Street is a key route for cycle trips through as well as to the town centre.

SPOKES would encourage anyone who cycles to and through the town centre to have their say and ensure that the needs of cyclists are properly taken into account.