Name : Ashley Tiffen

Location : Cockermouth. Date : 2007-08-26 10:40:59

Comment : Perhaps those who suggest that there is not going to be two way through traffic on Bitterbeck car park would like to explain the presence of the \'potential\' to open up access from Kirkgate into the Car Park.

Name :

Location : Cockermouth. Date : 2007-08-17 22:38:25

Comment : I too have read the Times and Star report and it is riddled with inacurcies. Why would anyone believe there is a proposal to close the car parks, and if you look closer at the plans only 2 tress are to be removed and an extra 10 are to be planted. Are people really this stupid?

Name : Dave Siddall

Location : St Helens Street. Date : 2007-08-17 18:17:43

Comment : Reports in Times and Star seem to give erroneous impression that the Option D for the Market Place will mean closure of the car parks, a two-way rear road and loss of all the trees. If those concerned would read and study the Option D plans on this website and on show at Town Hall they will see that there is no plan for a two-way road in Old Hall Went and removal of trees would only be on the Northern side of the Market Place. The newspaper report is riddled with phrases such as \"it is understood\" and \"it has been claimed\"...more facts than conjecture would have been useful.

Name : B. Gresley

Location : High Wycombe Bucks. Date : 2007-08-13 09:31:39

Comment : Please get on with it. The talking is over and even Workington has moved on. My frequent visits to Cockermouth just show a steady decline in Market Place. If the bookshop goes---that is it--motor to Keswick Quick Regards B. Gresley

Name : Jon Sharp

Location : Cockermouth. Date : 2007-08-01 11:04:07

Comment : Whilst creating an extremely attractive part of town under plan E, it would be unsustainable and the whole purpose of the money isn\'t to create beauty but to develop a self sustaining, commercially viable area. The area already boasts Neo\'s, Allerdale Court, The Ship (under re-build), the Front Room and the recent addition at the corner with Kirkgate, (apologies the name escapes me presently)! I had a walk down yesterday and whilst most of the central town cafe/bars were doing brisk service Neo\'s was empty. This is unsustainable commercially and a business without customers is not a business, business operators don\'t have the luxury of a salary coming in every week, and one comment suggested with The Granary footfall is the key! In previous years the Market Place had several key shops including Fine Fare a former supermarket, really to make the area thrive this is what\'s needed, instead currently all the main shops are oriented towards the centre and other side of town. Perhaps the other alternative is to move all the service industries, estate agents etc into the Market Place, people use these services and so would have to visit the area and would no doubt by default then support the cafe/bars? One last thought... I and my family consciously spend no more than £10 per week in the supermarkets (and I begrudge every penny of that), on principal and have take the decision to purchase from local stores. Unless there is concerted effort from more residents of the town along these lines, fewer and fewer local business will survive in any part of the town!

Name : Mark Skidmore

Location : St Helen\'s Street. Date : 2007-07-31 23:41:48

Comment : Well, after their meeting today, the partnership commitee are due to announce their final decision tomorrow. Despite the skew of comments on this forum towards full pedestrianisation, word on the street suggests that the outcome is most likely to be in favour of scheme D. I think this says something about the divide that seems to have opened - the majority of people posting here are willing to embrace new ideas (ie the internet), and so are less fretful about a more radical change in market place. The people against change have taken a more traditional route to express their concerns (e.g. petitions, shouting etc.) If this is the final decision, I for one will be very disappointed - I truly believe Cockermouth needs a fully pedestrianised area (scheme E), and I can\'t think of a better place for it that the (potentially) beautiful open Georgian space of the Market Place. I would like to think such a move would benefit local traders, but of course, I can\'t be 100% sure that would happen. What might have happened is that gradually Market Place would lose its shops and gain more cafes and bars - effectively becoming a social quarter - would this have been a bad thing? I don\'t know, but my experience of towns on the continent is that such areas can attract a huge amount of trade. Although I am fully behind local traders, and want to see them survive, I must confess that I do not support the shops in market place as much as I would like. Mainly though, this is because: (a) I try and eat as much Organic produce as possible, which I can\'t get in market place shops. (b) I don\'t eat meat, and (c) I don\'t want a tattoo. OK - so that gives you a fair idea of the sort of right-on-guardian-reading-liberal-incomer I am. My point is that any shop needs to adapt to maintain its trade, as Cockermouth has attracted more young professionals over the past years. I did spend plenty of my money in The Granary when it was in Market Place (and still do), but that adapted and moved because Market Place was simply not attracting enough \'footfall\'. Something has to be done to make Market Place a viable location for trader, but it seems the majority view is to do as little as possible (I wonder how popular a \'scheme F - do nothing\' - would have been). I also think it is not fair to compare what has happened in Workington with Cockermouth - these are two towns with quite different demographics, both residential and touristic. Of course I will be deeply disappointed if scheme D wins out, but I will also be fully behind whatever decision the commitee makes - it has been a largely democratic process, and a small change will be better than no change. I certainly will not resort to the sort of bullying tactics rumoured to have been adopted by some Scheme D supporters, threatening to disrupt the process and put the whole regeneration scheme in jeopardy if full pedestrianisation is chosen. I just hope this has not influenced the final decision. One final point - I agree with those people who have suggested scheme A might serve as a compromise. Despite my full support of scheme E, I would certainly prefer A over D. It is a shame that the voting system adopted couldn\'t have been more flexible, maybe with the option of a second choice. I should imagine that scheme A would be many people\'s second choice (whichever side of the \'divide\' they stand on), and so although it would delight few people, it might just about satisfy more than either scheme D or E alone. I\'ve tried my hardest not to mention either traffic of parking, as far too much has been said on these already, but I still can\'t understand the shear ferocity of objection to the proposed Old Hall Went road! Perhaps if I lived in one of the houses backing onto Old Hall Went, I would feel just the same way. After all, a road might spoil my view of the car park and the delightful council depot!

Name : Local Shop Owner

Location : re response to local shop owner. Date : 2007-07-31 11:53:49

Comment : Actually - Many of the local shops in Workington have closed down and the area is now dominated by national chains, which I understand to be contrary to the long term intentions of Cockermouth, and therefore not a good analogy. In addition many of the stores have experienced slower than expected results and one of the largest chain stores in the town has reduced it staff! You might get an increase of tourists, in season, but they won\'t pay the bills 52 weeks of the year! Trying to get customers to walk further than their car to Sainsbury\'s front door, from their car to Wilkinson\'s front door or from their car to Aldi\'s front door is very hard work. I have been in towns where money on similar schemes have been spent and achieved nothing, because the supermarkets, bus stops and taxi ranks were at the opposite end of the town centre. Week in week out, the majority of customers on average spend no more than 15 - 20 mins at anyone time shopping, other than for the weekly/monthly grocery shop, usually in one store! I agree pedestrianisation is aesthetically and environmentally exceedingly attractive but it doesn\'t solve the problem of getting people over the bridge to that part of town in any great numbers at least 6 days a week to sustain retail businesses which is the purpose of the regeneration. It\'s very easy to spend £1.3m of tax payers money.

Name : Cath Howard

Location : 8 Fitz Road, Cockermouth. Date : 2007-07-30 21:22:16

Comment : i support plan E full pedestrianisation of Market Place

Name : Fiona Whittaker

Location : St Helens St. Date : 2007-07-30 18:38:57

Comment : Is the date Monday 30th or Tuesday 31st?. Surely with a voting issue the date needs to be correct. The Town Hall were not sure of either time or date.

Name :

Location : Cockermouth. Date : 2007-07-30 15:09:16

Comment : In response to Local Shop Owner\'s comments. I think you will be find it hard to find any evidence, locally, nationally or globally to support your concerns. Evidence from many years of the pedestrianisation experiment clearly shows footfall increases when the car is thoughtfully removed from town centres. Ask yourself why, if your arguments are correct, has Workington spent millions on a new shopping area that is wholly designed around the pedestrian. Every shop front faces on to a pedestrianised street and every shop is seeing an increase in trade. Pedestrianisation does work, can work and will work – there is no evidence to say to the contrary.