City Centre Movement Strategy supported
A review of Liverpool's City Centre Movement Strategy (CCMS) has supported its objectives but said that more needs to be done for its aims to be understood.
A scrutiny panel of the Regeneration and Economic Development Select Committee was set up to examine the strategy, a £73m package of road improvements to provide a balanced and sustainable transport system, accessible to all, and establish its effectiveness compared with its objectives.
CCMS's objectives are:
- to improve accessibility to the city centre to aid economic regeneration and to provide access for all
- to create a people friendly city centre that is safe, clean and attractive for work, shopping, business, tourism and leisure
- to make best use of the city centre's key transport assets - the Merseyrail stations, bus facilities, ferries and major car parks
- to support the improvement of the city centre's architecture and townscape.
The panel heard evidence from Professor Peter Bonsall, of Leeds University, and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce.,Merseytravel, police and other bodies.
It found that that it was satisfied both with the objectives set for the strategy and with the individual schemes that make it up - although with some specific reservations.
However, the panel found that while individual schemes had been well publicised the overall aims of the strategy were not well understood and there should be a drive to increase the understanding of what CCMS is trying to achieve.
The panel is also recommending that there should be robust enforcement of traffic regulations and camera enforcement of bus lanes should be introduced as quickly as possible if improved road schemes are to prove effective.
It also calls for better coordination of work by utility companies to reduce disruption and the avoid the creation of continual road works.
Cllr Stuart Monkcom, who chaired the panel, said:
"We had several wide-ranging discussions about the strategy and took evidence from many individuals and organisations ranging from representatives of the business community to an individual bus user.
"The overall result was that the panel agreed with the aims and objectives of CCMS but that there has been confusion over it, partly because of other works taking place in the city centre by the utilities companies and developers. It is often difficult for people to distinguish between CCMS and the rest of the Big Dig.
"CCMS is also a scheme in progress and can only be fully understood and appreciated when it is completed. However, we feel that this is an appropriate time to remind people about what it is trying to achieve such as routing traffic which does not need to be there away from the city centre to avoid congestion.
"Where we found that there have been shortcomings with CCMS road schemes, these will be addressed and corrective measures taken as quickly as possible. Our overall objective is that moving around the city centre should be a pleasant experience for everyone."
Cllr Eddie Clein, Chairman of the Regeneration and Economic Development Select Committee, said:
"This was a very important piece of work. One of the main things which emerged was that many of the roadworks taking place in the city centre were through utility works or new developments and were not part of CCMS.
"We have made a number of recommendations including introducing bus layovers as soon as possible, improving park and ride schemes and urging Merseytravel and bus operators to provide a better bus service for the north of the city centre."