Long-mooted plans to pedestrianise a historic Herefordshire public square appear to have been finally killed off.
Repurposing Corn Square in the heart of Leominster have been debated for nearly a decade and a half, most recently with a public consultation that closed on March 4.
This sought townspeople’s views on whether motor vehicles should be banned from the square between 10am and 4pm, when it would become a “pedestrian and cycle zone”, while still permitting parking in it outside of these times.
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Plans to pedestrianise the nearby High Street, Corn Street and Victoria Street were earlier rejected.
From the 782 responses received, “a clear majority” of around 62 per cent were opposed the idea, with many “emphasising the importance of Corn Square as a short-stay, free parking location that supports convenient shopping”, Herefordshire Council has now said.
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Nearby resident Eleanor Plant said: “Why would one want to damage the businesses we already have and drive away people spending money?”
Coun Jenny Bartlett said the town council had first pursued the idea of taking cars out of the square in its parish plan of 2012, and this was retained in its neighbourhood development plan, backed by a local referendum in 2019.
“More than half of people at the time thought that pedestrianisation and more events in the square would be a good idea,” she said.
“Reimagining” Corn Square then became a strand in the £3.6-million “High Street Heritage Action Zone” funding awarded to the town, of which £750,000 was earmarked specifically for the square including devising and consulting on radical new layouts and uses for it.
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These suggestions included using it more for outdoor eating and drinking, screening films in summer, as a performance venue or events hub, or even for an ice rink and other events at Christmas.
But the ensuing works to refurbish the square from late spring 2024 through to the following January, though disruptive to businesses, did not substantially change its existing car-accessible layout with free short-term parking spaces in the middle.
Gill Frost, owner of Drapers Lane Antiques, said this “upheaval” and other disruption in the town had taken a toll on several independent shops, adding: “It’s a good thing that nothing more will now be done to the square.”
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