Petersfield Pedestrianisation

Jack Dean

Death is inevitable. We all know it's coming. That's why we appreciate every living day we have. However what if you were to find out that due to air pollution you could potentially lose on average 6 months of your life. Six months you could spend with loved ones or fulfilling your life goals, taking away from you. If I knew that earlier, I would look for ways to change the way I live and would hope others would reflect on their way of living as well.

In the last 25 years there has been a large increase of cars on the road which has inevitably had a negative impact on our quality of life. From a decrease in air quality and a staggering amount of road accidents leading to deaths. Because of this I believe that something needs to change.

This infographic explores the idea of implementing pedestrianisation in Petersfield town centre. Pedestrianisation doesn't just have a positive impact on the climate, it has also been found to have a positive impact on retail turnover and an increase in footfall in towns that have implemented a well planned pedestrianised space.

I hope the infographic makes you reflect on how you may act in the future. Maybe decide to take public transport on short journeys or look to walk to the shops instead of driving.or even maybe invest in an environmentally friendly vehicle. It may not feel like a big difference but I can assure you that every little bit helps.

When conducting my research I spoke to two Petersfield councillors who I believed would be very opinionated on the topic. Peter Clist, a member of the liberal democrat party was against the idea of pedestrianisation. He referred back to the early 2020 when HCC (Hampshire County Council) widened the pavements to allow social distancing. They put large barriers across almost all of the town centre parking places, thereby forcing people to park in the central or other car parks and walk. Peter used this as an argument against pedestrianisation due it looking “ugly” and “It removed the option of ‘popping in’ to the town” due to the lack of parking spaces. On the other side of the spectrum I spoke to Jaime Matthews, independent counsellor, who expressed his support for a part pedestrianised system. Like Peter, Jaime referred back to 2020. He said “Last year the High Street was closed to through traffic, as part of Covid-19 measures, for nearly 12 months. The net benefit of this was a significant reduction in through traffic.” Jaime also went on to say “a closure to through traffic will be a positive benefit as it will allow people to enjoy the offerings from shops, restaurants, cafes and pubs without having to worry about large volumes of traffic passing close by. The Square is an ideal area which could benefit from having more activities, markets, and events but it is an awkward location as it is surrounded by roads on all sides. I therefore think that as a starting point this area would benefit significantly from reducing or removing traffic altogether.”

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