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Fleet town centre is due to get a major
face-lift in 2005 after two years of negotiations. The £3.5million
joint-scheme between Hampshire County Council and Hart will see
the length of Fleet' Road from the Oatsheaf to Birch Avenue junction get
a complete make-over with improvements for pedestrians and
road-traffic alike.
For cars there will be an increase to 11 parking spaces for the disabled
and the size of the taxi rank will increase.
A great bug-bear of Fleet Road has always been the unloading of delivery
lorries in front of the shops, causing major jams up and down the road.
The new multi-million pound scheme will create new bays for lorries to
deliver goods thus cutting congestion in future.
Another major aspect of the re-development will see a reduction in
traffic along Fleet Road. Harlington Way, the road which runs behind the
Hart's Civic Offices, will be extended into Victoria Road car park
so that drivers coming from Hartley Wintney, Elvetham Heath and north
Fleet will not have to drive into town. This will speed up their
journeys and reduce congestion.
The pavements along Fleet Road will be completely replaced with new high
quality paving and granite curbs. There will also be a new bus stop
outside Marks & Spencer. Pedestrian crossings will be up-rated, with
an additional crossing installed near the new Birch Parade housing
development.
There will be improved lighting in Gurkha Square with the installation
of special lanterns, which will dim automatically after mid-night. The
plans will see the building of a brand new bigger and better skate park,
which will be set back several metres from its current position.
And as all this is going on a large section of the road will be torn up
and re-surfaced.
Welcoming the plans for Fleet Road, Cllr Sharyn Wheale, who is Cabinet
Member with responsibility for Fleet, said:
"It has taken two years of negotiation with Hampshire County
Council to bring both government investment and developers'
contributions into Fleet through this multi-million pound investment.
Fleet's centre will become much more accessible to everyone across the
whole community."
"These dramatic improvements will transform Hart's principal town
centre from an unattractive and unsafe. high street into top quality
environment, providing an excellent place to both shop and socialise and
promote trade and business at the same time," she added. PROPOSED
IMPROVEMENTS In order to make
shopping and working in the town centre more attractive and pleasant,
the improvements will include the replacement of worn-out road and
footway surfacing, new kerbing and seating, planting of more trees and a
general re-organisation of street furniture. SAFETY Over
a three-year period up to August 2004, there have been 20 road accidents
involving personal injuries along Fleet Rd. Half of these involved
pedestrians or cyclists. One of the aims of the proposed scheme is to
improve road safety. This will be achieved by reducing traffic speeds,
raising driver awareness of pedestrian crossing points and improving the
provision of signal-controlled crossings. Enhancing the street lighting
alongside Gurkha Square will further contribute to safety using special
lanterns giving a higher level of illumination until midnight, before
automatically dimming to normal levels. CAR
PARKING Along
Fleet Rd, vehicles are often double-parked, further putting pedestrians
at risk. The scheme includes measures to improve the management of
parking by:
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Creating an access
into Victoria Car Park from Harlington Way and making the Victoria
Road access "entry only"
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Making more lay-bys
available for un-loading
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Providing more
disabled drivers' parking
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Providing more taxi
rank spaces
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Restricting parking in
Fleet Rd
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Constructing a service
road off Branksomewood Road to provide access for deliveries and
additional short term parking to the rear of some properties in
Fleet Road.
OFF-STREET
CAR PARKS
As part of the
improvements, Hart District Council will be providing additional parking
spaces in the existing Victoria road car park and in the new car park
off Branksomewood Road.
Victoria Rd car park will provide more disabled and cycle parking, a
short-stay only area, and some parent and child parking- a first for
Hart.
Intended particularly for shoppers, the new car park off Branksomewood
Road is conveniently located very close to the town centre shops. It
will provide 20 short-stay spaces for stays of up to 30minutes, and will
include two disabled spaces. |
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IS THE CARNIVAL
GOING TO BE AFFECTED?
The Fleet Carnival
committee is very concerned about the effect of the work due to
be complete.
Hart Council have
given assurance that careful consideration is being given to all
events being organised this year which could be affected by the
improvements.
Carnival are
concerned about the relocation of the skate board facilities
and also work effecting the routes of the two carnival
processions.
The height of the
platforms at some road intersections may affect the carnival
procession vehicles and the safety of those on the floats.
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Aims of
the Impovements
- Improve road
safety
- Lower traffic speeds
- Make it easier for
pedestrians to cross roads and move around
- Provide more bus
facilities
- Make shopping and working
in the centre more attractive and pleasant
- Strengthen the local
economy and attract new businesses
>Work
on the access to Victoria Road car park and the work for the
Branksomewood Road car park to be done by HDC is due to start in
February. This
will ensure that new short stay car parking (10p for 30mins) is
in place before excisting short stay parking in Fleet Rd is
removed.
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Any Businesses
being affected by the changes and requiring
information should contact the Fleet Town Centre
Manager, Sue Collen, who is the liason between
them and the HCC
and HDC. She is on
01252
613475
email manager@fleet-tcg.org.uk
other
contacts are:
SITE
PHONE NUMBER
01252 627214
Mr
Ian Leuillette
Hampshire County Council
Environment Dept
Asburton West
The Castle
Winchester
Hants. SO23 8UJ
Tele: 01962 847729
Fax: 01962 846716
email; ian.leuillette@hants.gov.uk
John
Foggo
Highways
Hart District Council
Civic Offices
Harlington Way
Fleet
Hants. GU51 4AE
Tele: 01252 622122
Email: highways-team@hart.gov.uk
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No more than 50m
of footway with 100m streches between will be worked
on.......
Three phases
will be used to resurface Fleet Rd.......
No shop should
have to be closed.......
Fleet Rd will be
one-way from the Oatsheaf to the Kings Rd Junction.
A diversion from Kings Rd to Aldershot Rd and then
Reading Rd South will be the other route.......
Pelican crossing
will be changed to Puffin crossings. Pelican's are more
pedestrian friendly.......
The work will
start in early June and be all finished by March
2006.......
The constructors
office will be located in Church Rd car park.......
Branksome Rd
will eventually be linked to Church Rd. This will be
completed at a later date.......
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Sharyn's Dream
Sharyn Wheale is the local
Conservative counciller for the Pondtail ward of Fleet and Cabinet
member for Fleet. She is standing as a conservative on May 5th for Hants
County Council. Sharyn is also a 
representative on Fleet
Town Centre Group who fully support the New Plan.
She has been working on the
Fleet Plan for two years.
This is what she says:
"The town centre
improvements have been worked on in great detail , consulting with representatives
of the public, The Town Centre Management Group, businesses and other
local organisations.
It is a major highway improvement scheme which has to be done at some
time in the future.
The scheme includes replacing the road, which at the moment has no
substructure or foundations and consists of only a dirt track covered in
tarmacadum.
The scheme will include new entrances to the car parks and new off road
loading and unloading areas. It will address accident black spots and
also includes improved facilities for the disabled, improved lighting
and up-rated pedestrian crossings. A new road and pavements will be
built.
These improvements will encourage both new businesses and
shoppers and will also reflect the standards and requirements of the
people that live in Fleet.
The scheme is being financed from government transport funding and
developers contributions from the Elvetham Heath development. This is at
no cost to local taxpayers. This money cannot be used for alternative
projects and would otherwise be lost."
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OBJECTIONS:
There are many who object to the Plan. Two of the most outspoken
are Independent campaigner Denis Gotel who believes that fixing
what "ain't broke" is the height of stupidity and Star
editor Alan Franklin who thinks that the money could have been
better spent on road widening and new turning lanes
etc....especially at the Oatsheaf crossroads.
Alan also says "Most of the £3.5 million being spent on
the Fleet Town Plan was forced out of developers for "road
improvements" not new flower tubs." Mr. Franklin also
thinks that Fleet is already one of Britain's most successful
towns and therefore money spent on a facelift will achieve
nothing. He states "Throwing vast sums of money on
disrupting the High Street for about a year will achieve
virtually nothing other than to cut the number of car parking
spaces which will drive shoppers away not attract them." |
What
do you think:
Let
us know what you think email on community@fleethants.com
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Fleet
Rd after the improvements