St Benedicts Street area

Below is a plan of the agreed permanent changes to St Benedicts Street. Some of these are to retain temporary measures put in place last year, while others are new features put forward in response to feedback we received as part of the consultation.

The overarching change is to make permanent the Pedestrian and Cycle Zone between St Margaret's Street and Charing Cross which allows loading and access at all times.

Within this area, waiting (i.e. parking) not permitted
Further loading only space created on the existing single yellow line on the southern side of the road
Additional loading space will also be considered where it is safe to do so
Loading and waiting prohibited on the western corner of St Benedict's Street and St Margaret's Street for visibility and safety reasons
Pay and display spaces provided to the west of St Margaret's Street
Car Club bays to be moved to the west of St Margaret's Street, near St Swithin's Alley

Further details

The overarching change relates to the permanent removal of general traffic and other changes are as follows:

Existing disabled and pay and display parking located at the western end of St Benedicts Street to remain and the pay and display spaces currently converted to loading bay and car club spaces to be made permanent.
Loading and waiting on the west corner of St Benedicts and St Margarets Street prohibited to improve visibility and safety.
St Margarets Street loading only.
A new loading bay on St Benedicts Street opposite No's 25-35.
All existing areas designated for tables and chairs to remain (subject to continuing licensing approval).
Bollards to improve safety for those travelling on foot introduced on the northern pavement outside St Lawrence's Church.
Loading bay adjacent to St Lawrence steps.
Loading bays outside St Gregory's Church at the eastern end of St Benedicts Street on both sides of the carriageway.

Further visual representation of these changes can be viewed on the St Benedicts Street loading and access map:

St Benedicts Street loading and access map (PDF) [676KB]

Disabled parking in the city centre

In addition to where this is specifically mentioned within the 'Connecting the Norwich Lanes' consultation, the locations and restrictions relating to disabled parking bays will be reviewed to establish whether existing arrangements are appropriate. This will include a separate consultation directly with the relevant stakeholders.

Background

In May last year, the Secretary of State for Transport announced a £250 million Emergency Active Travel budget to support the introduction of traffic calming measures, wider pavements and more cycle lanes to help social distancing in town and city centres in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidance was published telling councils how they can reallocate road space to achieve two main objectives of encouraging cycling and walking and enabling social distancing.

Norfolk was awarded around £2m of investment money across two phases - the first to respond to immediate issues and the second to deliver more significant, permanent improvements, which would build on existing schemes and take longer to design, consult and construct. The measures being put forward for St Benedicts Street and the Exchange Street area would be paid for by the second phase, now called the Active Travel Fund.