Big plans are underway to revamp Truro’s Boscawen Street.

Truro’s Healthy Streets group, which includes representatives from Truro City Council, Truro BID and Cornwall Council, want to work with local residents and businesses to develop an ambitious new vision for Truro which will ensure that the city centre is accessible to all parts of the community and make the city a thriving place for the future.

The aim of the plan is to help to regenerate the city centre at the same time as increasing opportunities for walking, cycling and bus use, and space for staging community events. It is also part of the wider ambition to promote sustainable transport and tackle climate change.

The first phase involves an experimental 24 hour restriction on through traffic entering Boscawen Street. Access will be retained for emergency vehicles, buses, taxis, cycles and blue badge holders, and for loading and unloading.

This experimental scheme is currently due to be introduced on July19.

Detailed proposals for the experimental scheme are still being developed. The current preferred option is for the area of carriageway used by permitted vehicles to be narrowed, creating more space for pedestrians and cyclists to use. Existing disabled parking bays and loading bays will remain and, where impacted, will be replaced.

As this is an experimental scheme, the plans are for the traffic islands in the centre of Boscawen Street to remain in place for the present, with new benches and planters installed at key places throughout the street to help create a vibrant and attractive space in the city centre.

The current temporary pedestrianisation scheme had been due to end on June 21, in line with the lifting of the final stage of the Covid lockdown restrictions. However, following the Government’s decision to delay this for an additional four weeks, the existing arrangements will now remain in place until July 18 with the trial coming into operation the following day on July19

This means that, until July 18, the existing restrictions on buses and other vehicles accessing Boscawen Street and surrounding roads between 11 am and 3pm will continue to operate. Marshalls, funded by Truro City Council and Truro BID, will remain in place to support these restrictions.

The experimental scheme will be introduced under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), funded by Cornwall Council. The use of the ETRO will enable the new arrangements to be tested to see how they work in practice before a decision is made on a permanent scheme.

Full details of the scheme will be published on the City Council and Truro BID websites as soon as they are confirmed.

The group are also creating a Truro Healthy Streets page on the Let’s Talk Cornwall online platform to provide information about the scheme and enable people to ask questions and share their views. Once live, this can be accessed at https://letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/healthy-streets-truro