Main shopping street in Skegness to be pedestrianised in 18-month experiment

There are plans tp predestrianise Lumley Road in Skegness.

Lincolnshire County Council is to ban cars from Lumley Road which features the Hildreds Shopping Centre and the new Lumley Plaza to improve air quality and cut congestion.

The decision comes after the authority launched a consultation in March to ask residents' views on eight schemes to make walking and cycling easier in the county, using £799,900 funding from the Department for Transport's Active Travel Fund.

Over 2,750 residents, businesses and organisations completed the consultation which ended on Sunday 16 May. The following schemes will now go ahead, after receiving broad public support:

· Skegness Lumley Road sustainable travel corridor

· Grantham active travel zone

· Lincoln Newark Road cycle lane protection

· Louth active town centre

· Sturton by Stow low traffic neighbourhood

Each scheme will be implemented for a period of up to 18 months. After that time a decision will be made whether or not to keep the changes, after further engagement with locals.

There have been some changes to the proposals, based on feedback, such as the removal of some street closures in the Louth project, and allowing buses to access still Lumley Road in the Skegness scheme.

Other prospective schemes in Boston, Mablethorpe and Spalding were not supported by the public, and will not be going ahead.

Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport at Lincolnshire County Council, said:

"We were clear when we launched this consultation that only those schemes with public support would get the go ahead. We've listened to what residents have told us and made amendments to schemes based on your feedback. We'll start work as soon as we can to put in the changes that residents have told us they want to see.

"Where these schemes are being implemented, they will be temporary for up to 18 months. If they work for the community, we can make them permanent. And if they don't, we can take them out again easily.

"Although they are temporary, we're keen for no community to feel like they've just got roadworks happening for 18 months so we will use high quality infrastructure to implement these changes, such as traffic planters.

"With some of the schemes not supported and so not going ahead, we've got some funding left it the pot. As such we're looking to consult on more prospective schemes very shortly for Stamford, Sutton-on-Sea and Lincoln.

"Once again, these ideas have come from the public, and will only get the go ahead if they're supported by other local residents."

Earlier this year, plans were also revealed to upgrade Lumley as part of the £25 million Town Deal.

The investment would focus on Lumley Road from the Train Station to Tower Esplanade, transforming Skegness’ neglected historic town centre and key gateway to visitors.

This would include funding for landlords to upgrade neglected shop fronts.

What do you think to the plan? Email [email protected]