Ideas in Southwold for permit parking and a one-way street rejected after overwhelming public opinion against them

Ideas for changes to road operations in a Suffolk town have been shelved after it was clear public opinion was against them.

Councillors in Southwold had floated the possibilities of a one-way system on the town’s High Street, as well as implementing limited parking.

However, in a meeting of the town council, these plans were unanimously rejected.

It will now reconsider the issues at hand to come up with new ideas which are more palatable to the town’s residents, although it will also press ahead with plans to implement a 20mph speed limit in the town after overwhelming public support in favour of it.

David Beavan, deputy leader of East Suffolk Council and chairperson of Southwold Town Council’s roads committee, said: “We had a couple of public meetings on the issues and the overall opinion was they created more problems than they solved so we voted against it.

“We’re starting to narrow down the options of what we can do, but the one-way system just wasn’t going to work – there are bits of it that will however, like the 20mph limit.

“It’s still not decided as we have to do surveys and so on as we’re talking about the whole town, but it’s what local people want so why shouldn’t we do it.”

Residents were staunchly opposed to limited parking in the town, with many perplexed as to why it was necessary despite Cllr Beavan’s statements about the need for it.

Comments on the Southwold Town Council website about the issues included people suggesting ‘there’s only a real problem in the summer,’ ‘parking must be free to encourage visitors to the town,’ and ‘the ideas are totally unworkable.’

Michael Ladd, Suffolk County Councillor for Kessingland and Southwold, said: “I picked up from several councillors and residents that the High Street wasn’t safe, and it was a very early stage consultation to see if it was worth pursuing.

“I think there are still elements of it that can be used like putting in pedestrian priority crossings and removing a few of the parking spaces like in York Road.

“I’m very much in favour of the 20mph limit in the town, something which I proposed to councillors about three years ago, provided it meets the necessary criteria.”

Factors such as the road having an average speed of 24mph or less and residents housing being in the road are needed to reduce a roads speed to 20mph.