Wallingford Town Hall frontage could be pedestrianised

Mayor Marcus Harris proposed the idea at a meeting of the full council on Monday (16) to make the space in front of the hall in Market Place pedestrian-only.

He said the area and parts of the hall are being damaged by vehicles using it to park or unload goods for the surrounding businesses and pedestrianisation would keep the town hall safe.

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Speaking at the meeting, he said: “As we all know this poor old town hall is being rather battered and is in need of a lot of work to make sure it stays safe for the next however many years.

“The frequency of cars and vans cutting through here and parking underneath it and blocking the frontage when there are weddings and all sorts of things just so they can pop out for a coffee is becoming more and more and we seem to have lost this as a good community space.

“What I’m keen to do is make this a pedestrian-only space and rerouting the bus to find a new place for it to park which is the only logistical use of that area.

(Ed Nix)

“Some of the options are to repave the area to potentially create a boulevard with a couple of benches so people can sit and watch the war memorial and watch Wallingford life go past.”

Mr Harris also suggested installing bollards to protect the area.

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Councillor Ros Lester suggested that the bollards should be able to “move up and down” so vehicles could still use the area if needed.

She said: “Just consider that we do want weddings to take place and we do need to get the bride in something special to the front door so it needs to be bollards that move.”

Councillor Giles Cattermole agreed and added that a time period could be introduced for vehicles to unload for surrounding businesses.

He said: “[They could] unload say between 6am and 8am in the morning and then have bollards up in the day and potentially in the evening.

“We should consult the offices around the square to see if it would be beneficial for them.”

Councillor Nigel Hughes also agreed it’s “a great idea” and suggested making a grass area with “a wooden platform with temporary seating that can be moved if need be.”

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Councillors approved Mr Harris’ proposal which will be discussed again when various cost options have been put together by the council office.

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This story was written by Gee Harland, she joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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