Row over town centre traffic ban

A ROW has flared over proposals to ban traffic from part of Warrington town centre on weekend evenings as part of the borough council’s plan to tackle the problems of binge drinking and anti-social behaviour.
Lower Bridge Street will be closed to traffic on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9pm until 5am the following mornings.
This will mean moving taxi ranks from Lower Bridge Street to Academy Way and Barbauld Street.
The idea, to be considered at a special meeting of the borough council’s traffic committee on Thursday (July 31), is supported by the Director of Public Health, Warrington Pub Watch, the Town Centre Partnership and taxi union Unite and Warrington Taxi Drivers Association.
But 44 people have objected to the proposals, including taxi owners and drivers and users of the existing taxi ranks.
They raise fears about a potential loss of earnings by taxi drivers and about the safety of the proposed new taxi ranks.
Some of the objectors suggest the council should, as an alternative, take action against individual clubs and bars and claim they have not been consulted.
They ask whether the council considered the health and safety implications on surrounding streets when granting licences for the various bars on Bridge Street – in particular the safety of pedestrians leaving bars and clubs.
The council stresses that the measures would be introduced on an experimental basis to allow the affects to be monitored.
Main aim of the proposals is to remove conflict between pedestrians and vehicles in Lower Bridge Street.
One objector, the Dali Bar, in Bridge Street, has asked the council to supply documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
These are statistics of vehicle/pedestrian accidents and crime and disorder incidents in Rylands Street, Suez Street, Academy Way, Friars Gate, Barbauld Street and the Mersey Street end of Lower Bridge Street.