Newport Travel Forum

Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council was delighted to host the Newport Travel Forum on Saturday, 20th January 2018 at The Riverside Centre. The forum, which was well-attended, provided an excellent opportunity for residents and stakeholders to exchange ideas and feed into current projects and consultations affecting traffic, pedestrian accessibility and cycling into and around the town.

Cllr Julie Jones-Evans kicked-off the event with the results of Newport & Carisbroke Parish Council's 20mph residents' survey. The results from PO30 respondents showed that over 60 per cent were in favour of implementing 20mph zones in town and that many would support the restrictions being mandatory as opposed to advisory.

Martin Gibson of Creative Interpretation gave an illuminating and engaging presentation on a pedestrian street audit of Newport, which highlighted issues such as narrow footways, difficult crossing points and accessibility for people with restricted mobility.

Tim Thorne updated the forum on CycleWight's recent permeability study - examining ways to make improvements in highway design to facilitate better provision for cycling on the island, including the positive work currently being undertaken to improve cycling and walking to Gunville. Tim said: "CycleWight valued the opportunity to present its view on how to improve the way people can move around Newport in a more sustainable way. The parish council should be congratulated on organising such an event."

Bill Murphy, Head of Contracts Management at the Isle of Wight Council, provided information on the planned highway infrastructure improvements to St. Mary's roundabout and the public consultation, which begins on 24 January.

The final speaker was Ian Boyd of ARC Consulting who presented on the Shaping Newport project - a three-month project jointly funded by the Isle of Wight Council, Newport Business Association and Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council - to gather the views of residents to help shape Newport in the future and deliver improvements to the county town.

Cllr Jones-Evans said: "Thank you to everyone who gave up their Saturday to discuss and hear about the current state of getting around Newport. The pedestrian audit and cycling permeability study are vital pieces of work and evidence bases on which to create long-term solutions. Shaping Newport will be the vehicle that will allow implementation of these various improvements and through partnership working between Isle of Wight Council and Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council."

To view the Pedestrian Audit & Addendum, please Click Here.

To view the results of the 20mph survey and to see a recording of the entire event, please visit Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/newportwight

national speakers as well as local opinion.

20's Plenty Survey

Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council held the 'Newport Travel Forum' on Saturday 20th January 2018. Thank you to everyone who attended and took part in the discussions.

In the autumn of 2017 a 20's Plenty Survey was undertaken by Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council. The results of the survey were presented at the Travel Forum event and can be viewed by Clicking Here

20's Plenty 'Have Your Say' Event held in Newport

Following the successful '20s Plenty' conference held on 5th October 2016 a 'Have Your Say' event was held on Saturday 21st January 2017. This was well attended by people from across the Island including a number of parish councillors. As well as time for question and answer sessions during the morning, the video of the conference had its first showing. Cllr Lumley also expanded on his interview in the video regarding the success of the 20mph restriction in his ward that has been in operation since 2007.

A thought provoking presentation by Paola Spivach from Sustrans showed the use of 'street pockets' that reclaim parking spaces for community use as seating or gardens (to view the PowerPoint presentation, please Click Here). On a local level Tom Ransom from Sustrans outlined how they are working creatively with schools to get children travelling to school by foot, bikes and scooters.

A number of issues were raised by residents including pollution, noise and the safety of children travelling to school. In addition a number mentioned heavy vehicles travelling through streets with narrow pavements, which is a particular problem in Carisbrooke. A need for slower speeds was acknowledged, although lack of enforcement of speed limits was highlighted, as well as a requirement for more speed cameras around schools and built up areas.

Cllr Jones-Evans said - 'I was thrilled with the turnout, it was great to see residents from across the Island. This reinforces the outcome of the conference in October, where delegates felt that this should be the island working together and not individual pockets. However, our campaign is going well in Newport and we will continue to engage with residents to see how we they feel we can apply this in a practical way'.

There will be further ways to comment over the next few months and the video can be viewed below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgwhH3qyZYc

20's Plenty

Newport & Carisbrooke Parish Council are spearheading a campaign to bring 20mph to the streets of Newport. As a start to the campaign the Parish Council worked in partnership with the local primary schools to raise awareness of the issue.

As speeding is a particular problem in Carisbrooke High Street, St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School took this one step further and ran a poster competition. Cllr Jones-Evans and Hobart were delighted to be asked to judge and felt this was an excellent way to take the campaign forward.

Cllr Jones-Evans said 'Slowing traffic down to 20 mph where people live, work and play is a proven way to lift the wellbeing of communities with thousands of students going to school each day in Newport, so raising awareness of this campaign in our schools is a great place to start. As former pupils, Cllr Hobart and I were overwhelmed by the response from St Thomas of Canterbury Primary, Carisbrooke. The creativity and clever word play was impressive - Don't Hurtle, Be a Turtle! - and trying to pick a winner was a big ask. We chose 3 eventually (out of over 50) which we think will make eye catching posters and make people think twice about their speed around our parish'

Mrs Maggie Sanderson, Federation Deputy Headteacher added 'The children wanted to share their concern about the speed of the traffic through the High Street. We are very proud of their efforts and look forward to the campaign having the desired effect of making the High Street a safer place for all who use it.'

Following on from the work with the primary schools, Cllr Jones-Evans put together a whole Island conference to discuss 20mph with other town and parish councils. This took place on 5th October and included national speakers as well as local opinion.