Council keeps town centre roads closed and provides free parking offer
Eastleigh Local Area Committee (ELAC) last night unanimously agreed to continue to keep the two main town centre roads temporarily closed until April 2021 to help maintain the safety of shoppers and visitors together with other measures to encourage visitors to the town.
Earlier in the year ELAC unanimously agreed to temporarily close Market Street and High Street within Eastleigh Town Centre to provide a safe trading environment and enable safe queuing and social distancing through the provision of additional road space to allow pedestrians to pass safely.
With the current rise in incidents of Covid-19 both nationally and in Hampshire the Council is keen to ensure that social distancing is maintained in the town centre especially as the winter and the festive season approaches.
ELAC also approved a number of other measures to improve access and encourage visitors to the town including the introduction of a ‘buy one hour get one hour free’ offer for all pay and display town centre car parks until 1 January 2021 using RingGo, the contactless payment system, a recommendation to Cabinet to remove the 3-hour tariff at Wells Place car park to provide more short stay spaces and a new bus stand at the junction of Wells Road and Hanns Way.
Chair of ELAC Cllr Tina Campbell said, “The safety of local residents, shoppers and visitors to the town centre is paramount and we are committed to keeping everyone as safe as they can be. The continued closure of the roads together with other social distancing measures in our town will help to create a safe trading environment for businesses and shoppers during these uncertain times. We want to ensure that everyone who uses our town centre is confident they have safe space in which to shop and walk around the town especially as numbers could increase as we move forward into the festive season. It's important that shops and businesses are supported in this way while protecting Public Health which is as always our number one priority”
She added, “We are committed to having a successful town centre, but we must ensure we are providing as safe a shopping environment as possible during these unprecedented times. Although we have voted to keep the roads closed until April we continue to be open to making adjustments to the scheme as circumstances change. Our town centre shops and businesses contribute a great deal to our local economy, and we want to continue to talk and work with our town centre businesses and do everything we can to support them to help them continue to trade successfully in the future.”
Find out or more information including a map of the new town centre changes together with FAQ’s for residents and businesses.