Annex 4 - Regeneration and Congestion - Detailed Strategies

Newquay is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as Cornwall’s premier tourist destination. Regeneration and development plans for the town are currently being finalised for the wider town area. Newquay is reinventing itself as the ‘Surf Capital of the UK’ with opportunities for town centre renewal, with requisite transport infrastructure and links with Newquay Cornwall Airport.  Newquay is also set to see a significant number of new houses and industrial land provided as part of the proposed 'Newquay Growth Area'. The growth area lies approximately 2 miles from the town centre and core services.

The transport strategy for Newquay focuses on the high demand for internal trips in the urban centre through increased provision of sustainable modes of travel. This strategy will also be extended to visitors to the town, with an emphasis on sustainable tourism.

The Newquay Traffic Management Strategy has informed the five year strategy for the town. We have undertaken a priority assessment of the proposals included within the studies, which has determined the schemes to be taken forward. We have also referred to the Newquay Action Framework, which sets out a vision and direction for regeneration. The strategy for Newquay (as defined under the 'toolkit') is illustrated in Figure 1.19.  The five year Regeneration and Congestion Strategy is represented in map form in Figure 1.21.

In Newquay, traffic management and ‘public realm’ environmental enhancement schemes form a key element of the regeneration proposals. This work has already been started in the centre of the town along Bank Street and East Street, and with the refurbishment of Manor Road bus station. The completed schemes reallocate road space in the centre of the town away from the car and towards the pedestrian. The proposals for Newquay in the LTP2 will continue this process by extending the regeneration works along Fore Street. These streetscape improvements are enhancing the image of Newquay, making it a more attractive and useable space for residents and visitors alike. The improvements will reduce the impact of the car in the centre of Newquay, thereby assisting in reducing its role as the dominant form of transport.

Improvements to Bus

There is no direct rail link between Newquay and Truro, so the bus provides the only public transport option. To encourage increased patronage, this corridor will be enhanced during the LTP2. The bus stops within Newquay will be improved as part of these enhancements.

During the summer, visitors to Newquay add significantly to the level of traffic on the roads. We are trying to encourage more sustainable travel by visitors to Cornwall, by encouraging them to switch to public transport whenever possible. A number of public transport improvements will be implemented in Newquay to encourage this shift. The Newquay to Padstow Corridor will be enhanced to provide a better service between the towns and the inter-lying communities. Improvements will include a stop upgrade at Newquay Cornwall Airport, minor road re-alignments, tourist ticketing initiatives and targeted tourist publicity throughout the UK. Bus priority measures will also be introduced within Newquay during the summer to enhance bus services in the town, and to provide a discernable advantage for public transport.  

The demand management strategy for Newquay will have a particular focus on the pressures caused by seasonal traffic flows.  Variable Message Signing (VMS) will play a key role in directing people visiting the town to appropriate parking outside of the town centre to help ease congestion.

A parking restraint area will also be defined in the town.  The needs of the shoppers and visitors will have priority over the needs of commuters.  Within the restraint area:

• Prices in Restormel Borough Council controlled car parks should be adjusted to discourage use for long-term parking.  The price of long-term parking should be gradually increased in real terms and the number of long stay spaces be reduced by converting them to short stay.
• Development for uses other than residential use will provide on site parking for operational and disabled needs only.
• For existing businesses that have no provision for operational use but can prove an essential need, a minimal number of spaces will be provided, at a fee, for exclusive use.
• In and adjacent to this area, controls will be introduced for on-street parking.  The following measures will be introduced where appropriate:
  • preferential residents' parking schemes;
  • pricing of on-street spaces; and
  • prohibitions to provide space for pedestrians, public transport, loading, cycle and disabled facilities.

In the restraint area, a minimum number of spaces can be provided within the parking places owned by the District Council reserved for use by businesses strictly on the basis of proven need.

For new developments in Newquay, within the restraint area:

• We will encourage the production of Supplementary Planning Guidance setting out how contributions to alternative transport provision will be funded in appropriate circumstances.  This may include contributions to park-and-ride provision.
• Developers will be discouraged from selecting sites outside restraint areas as a way of achieving greater on-site parking provision.  Instead, they will be led towards sites in restraint areas because of improved public transport facilities.
• Where associated parking is unavoidable, it will be shared and not dedicated solely to the development.

Newquay has a high number of people who live and work within the town (72%) and is very self-contained town. This means that  a high number of trips to work could be made by bicycle. The relatively small compact nature of the town further strengthens potential cycling gains that could be made. A basic cycle network exists in Newquay which will be upgraded and extended as part of the comprehensive network set out in Figure 1.20. The cycle network has been developed to link key attractors within the town with residential areas. Newquay has already witnessed success stories with regards to cycling increases including one secondary school seeing a 400% increase in cycling since the opening of a new route, illustrating the potential within the town to cycle if the correct infrastructure is provided. Phase 1 of the network improvements will be delivered during the LTP2 period. The network will comprise of specific facilities and selected roads and on road signing.

It is also important that safe and direct walking and cycle links from the proposed growth area to the core facilities are implemented.

School Travel Plans

The following schools in Newquay will be invited to take part in the new 'intensive' School Travel Plan programmme: Newquay Tretherras; Newquay Junior; Trenance; Treviglas; The Bishops; The Holy Trinity and St Columb Minor. The programme will build on the model successfully pioneered in the first LTP in Newquay, that of working closely together across a range of initiatives and where appropriate introducing an element of competition within the cluster of schools. These schools will form part of the bigger group of 50 schools across the County, identified as having the greatest potential for modal shift and/or being within one of the urban centres.

The LTP2 programme for Newquay is contained in Table 1.5.