New Herne Bay road layout sparks backlash
A new scheme introducing a Spanish-style plaza along the Herne Bay seafront aims to reduce traffic congestion and boost footfall and tourism, but the introduction of a one way system sparked controversy .
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00:00 Han Bay is first known for its seaside and pier, but now it's been turned into a £200,000
00:08 Spanish style plaza.
00:10 The project is only just kicking off, but in summer they hope the seafront will be filled
00:15 with thousands more and also boost tourism.
00:18 But also hopes to reduce traffic congestion by encouraging cycling and walking between
00:23 the railway station and the central parade.
00:26 While it may be nice to have a stroll along the beach, especially on a sunny day, this
00:30 isn't residents' main concern with the scheme.
00:33 The main concern is the one-way system along this road and up around the high street.
00:36 They're saying it's not signposted well enough and most motorists don't even know
00:40 that this is now a one-way system.
00:42 It's a joke.
00:43 They're making it more for pedestrians.
00:45 There are sufficient walking areas around here.
00:47 You've got a nice park we can walk right the way through.
00:49 I've just done it.
00:50 There's plenty of pedestrian areas to walk through.
00:52 Stop mucking around with the motorists and their area.
00:55 I don't want a Spanish plaza.
00:56 I live in England.
00:58 So please, let me have my bit of road back.
01:00 We've got the plaza up in town.
01:02 We've got the town that's cut off by cars not able to go through during the day time.
01:06 So in the summer this will be horrendous.
01:09 Absolutely horrendous it will, just going up that little road.
01:12 If you've lived in Herne Bay for a while, you'll have got used to driving freely in
01:16 this area by the pier, as it was once a two-way street.
01:20 These are the roads where one-way systems have since been introduced.
01:24 The works themselves have created havoc within the town, but that's gone now.
01:29 So if they had started with the roadworks first and then done the plaza last, they could
01:39 have left this open all the way through and then joined into it.
01:42 We have got to make sure it stays a community area and doesn't become another pier type
01:46 thing.
01:47 That's different.
01:48 That's like a commercial entity on the pier.
01:50 This actually needs to stay a community area where we have things passing through that
01:55 people want to see and draw even more people into the town.
01:59 The scheme has been met with vast opposition from residents, with hundreds signing a petition
02:04 urging Kent County Council to scrap it.
02:06 But it's not actually cost the council a penny, as the funding has come from the government
02:11 pot.
02:12 The plaza project, which has been a joint project between Canterbury City Council and
02:19 Kent County Council, is one that has only just been delivered.
02:24 Indeed, it's still in construction phase at the moment.
02:27 So residents who have got strong views about it already, take a fresh look at it once it's
02:33 completed.
02:34 On the 9th January, a public meeting will be held for residents and business owners
02:38 to voice any concerns they have about the plaza.
02:41 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Herne Bay.