The new traffic arrangements make Totnes a much safer and much more pleasant place to visit, to live in and a much better place to shop. Air pollution is down, rat running is down and people can move about in the town with much less traffic to bother them. Totnes has a particularly low percentage of unoccupied shops, far lass than other towns in Devon so the argument that the traffic rearrangement is responsible for traders problems is bogus. The decision to change the trafic flow was arrived at by properly elected members of Devon Council after extensive consultation. That decision is widely supported by Totnes residents if not by some of the traders. Taders problems are much more reasonably explained by the current depression, by the billions of pounds taken out of the economy by employment and welfarecuts and by the steadily increasing amount of purchases made on the internet.
Also when the traffic went round that way it took those of us who live in Bridgetown more than 20-30 minutes just to get into the centre of town to shop. We might as well have moved to Paignton! Fortunately this traffic order has been changed now.
People have different viewpoints, but the solution (that would be accepted by the great majority) is clearly to reinstate the One Way Up and put in traffic calming / shared space. The traders will be happy, and pedestrians also. The comments from the owner of Lawsons are particularly illuminating: their sales in Tavistock (also a market town) are well up, whereas those in Totnes are well down.
The survey referred to by Peter Sutton was hardly unbiased. I have a business in town and am a member of the Federation of small businesses and I certainly wasn't asked for my opinion for the survey. I think the 84% he quotes is based on a very biased and small sample size. The main problem we have is far too many cars cutting through Totnes generally and we are now seeing the size of this problem because they can't rat run anymore. Let's all turn our attentions to the traffic problem and The Neighbourhood plan......perhaps join the Totnes Living Streets project focussing on pedestrian priority for the town :)
Where's the evidence from the minority of shop owners who pull stats and percentages out of their hat..Consider the massive rise in car ownership over the past fifty years and then apply it to the future, there wont be any room at all for pedestrians.That won't worry most people as they will be dealing with chronic health issues caused by car pollution.Totnes is more than a highstreet of shops which in general sell products which are not essentials and therefore many of the less well off in Totnes shop elswhere including me.I need to eat but l dont need expensive art works or a record player from the 1960's.
The new traffic system was wanted by a great majority - everyone I ever spoke to in my 30+ years here wanted to stop rat-running and reduce excess through traffic, and the current solution did that without restricting access to any street. It's been consulted publicly, decided democratically and implemented, people are used to it, trade is just fine, and stopping rat-running was a prerequisite for Shared Space, which doesn't work if idiots plough into it at 30mph so please stop pretending it's an alternative to calming - it's not, and the future work earmarked for the Narrows would not have been approved without the new traffic flow. I'm not here to argue, so reply as you wish - I don't have time for any more wittering about this very welcome fait accompli but just wanted to refute the nonsense about it being the unwanted work of officers. Get over it and move on, to any of the hundreds of things that actually need complaining about. Perhaps you could start with the ongoing ridiculous degradation of financial help for working families to survive and buy a house which is leading to an exodus of young people from the town? That's what will kill the place, not going the other way down a street.
The new traffic arrangements make Totnes a much safer and much more pleasant place to visit, to live in and a much better place to shop. Air pollution is down, rat running is down and people can move about in the town with much less traffic to bother them. Totnes has a particularly low percentage of unoccupied shops, far lass than other towns in Devon so the argument that the traffic rearrangement is responsible for traders problems is bogus. The decision to change the trafic flow was arrived at by properly elected members of Devon Council after extensive consultation. That decision is widely supported by Totnes residents if not by some of the traders.
Taders problems are much more reasonably explained by the current depression, by the billions of pounds taken out of the economy by employment and welfarecuts and by the steadily increasing amount of purchases made on the internet.
my favourite hippy town 🌸 🌼 🏵️
Also when the traffic went round that way it took those of us who live in Bridgetown more than 20-30 minutes just to get into the centre of town to shop. We might as well have moved to Paignton! Fortunately this traffic order has been changed now.
People have different viewpoints, but the solution (that would be accepted by the great majority) is clearly to reinstate the One Way Up and put in traffic calming / shared space. The traders will be happy, and pedestrians also. The comments from the owner of Lawsons are particularly illuminating: their sales in Tavistock (also a market town) are well up, whereas those in Totnes are well down.
The survey referred to by Peter Sutton was hardly unbiased. I have a business in town and am a member of the Federation of small businesses and I certainly wasn't asked for my opinion for the survey. I think the 84% he quotes is based on a very biased and small sample size. The main problem we have is far too many cars cutting through Totnes generally and we are now seeing the size of this problem because they can't rat run anymore. Let's all turn our attentions to the traffic problem and The Neighbourhood plan......perhaps join the Totnes Living Streets project focussing on pedestrian priority for the town :)
#TotnesOneWayUp
Where's the evidence from the minority of shop owners who pull stats and percentages out of their hat..Consider the massive rise in car ownership over the past fifty years and then apply it to the future, there wont be any room at all for pedestrians.That won't worry most people as they will be dealing with chronic health issues caused by car pollution.Totnes is more than a highstreet of shops which in general sell products which are not essentials and therefore many of the less well off in Totnes shop elswhere including me.I need to eat but l dont need expensive art works or a record player from the 1960's.
The new traffic system was wanted by a great majority - everyone I ever spoke to in my 30+ years here wanted to stop rat-running and reduce excess through traffic, and the current solution did that without restricting access to any street. It's been consulted publicly, decided democratically and implemented, people are used to it, trade is just fine, and stopping rat-running was a prerequisite for Shared Space, which doesn't work if idiots plough into it at 30mph so please stop pretending it's an alternative to calming - it's not, and the future work earmarked for the Narrows would not have been approved without the new traffic flow. I'm not here to argue, so reply as you wish - I don't have time for any more wittering about this very welcome fait accompli but just wanted to refute the nonsense about it being the unwanted work of officers. Get over it and move on, to any of the hundreds of things that actually need complaining about. Perhaps you could start with the ongoing ridiculous degradation of financial help for working families to survive and buy a house which is leading to an exodus of young people from the town? That's what will kill the place, not going the other way down a street.
Well said, Steve.