Residents, businesses and visitors have been helping shape plans to improve public spaces in Camborne and the way people travel around the town centre.
The Camborne Town Deal Board has decided to make various changes to its plans after carrying out two public consultations, which include proposals for altering the flow of traffic along Trelowarren Street will now no longer take place.
There will be more seating and plant greenery in the town centre and additional pedestrian crossings will be installed.
The parking bays at the top of Trelowarren Street will offer free parking for up to an hour, and there will be secure cycle parking in the town.
The Camborne Renew project forms part of the Camborne Town Deal Board’s vision to regenerate the heart of Camborne and transform it into a visually appealing, accessible place to live, work, shop and visit.
The scheme is about enhancing the appearance of the town centre. Encouraging longer dwell time thereby supporting high street economy.
Providing a welcoming and safe environment for all users of the town and supporting and adding value to the other Town Deal project
The project team, led by Cornwall Council on behalf of the Camborne Town Deal Board, will now be working with community groups to finalise the designs through a series of workshops following the public consultation. The final designs will be presented in the early part of January 2024.
Camborne Cornwall councillor Paul White said: “It was great to see that the plans for the proposed major traffic changes in Trelowarren Street have been scrapped.
“This was following feedback from businesses, local residents and visitors from a public consultation.
“After hearing about the possible changes to the layout
of traffic in our town and what they had planned to do
I took to the streets and visited approximately three quarters of businesses in Trelowarren Street and spoke with many people in the town to let them know what was proposed and to get their views.
“More than 500 businesses, residents and visitors took part in the consultation.
“The survey results showed that most people supported the idea of making the town more attractive and accessible, but had some concerns about traffic flow and parking availability.
“Big thank you to everyone who took the time to view and comment on the designs.
“There will be a final exhibition presented to members of the public early next year. Time and place to be confirmed nearer the time.”
John Cosgrove, the vice chair of Camborne Town Deal, said: “The idea is to make the town a better place for business owners, for residents for visitors and for everyone who comes into Camborne.
“We want it to be a better experience so that more people come into the town.
“We’ve come up with various proposals, various ideas, there have been two consultations so far and we have listened to what was said in the consultations.
“There will be a final proposal put forward. It won’t be the end of the story because there will still be an engagement where people are invited to comment and if there are strong objections to any aspects of it then things may well be changed at the last minute.
“But by and large, we think that we’ve responded very well to the comments that people made.
“So there will be no changes to the roads, there’ll be no restrictions to people going down Trelowarren Street, there’ll be no movement of the taxi rank.
“Many of the things that people were most concerned about have been removed from the proposals.
“However, there were some things people really did like.
“There were people who liked the idea of more crossings, who like the idea of more greenery around the town, of more parking spaces on the street and parking spaces which could be for longer so that at the top of Trelowarren Street near Centenary.
“There will be parking spaces that will be for an hour so that people can park there and walk down to the other end of town, maybe pass more shops, maybe go into more businesses, maybe do more in town.
“So, we’ve listened to the responses, and we have acted and changed things.”