Salisbury: Cllr Jeremy Nettle proposes car-free days in city centre

Council Jeremy Nettle was the leader of the city council during the short-lived and controversial People Friendly Streets project in 2020 and said this is a much more conservative proposal.

That scheme contributed to his resignation as leader in October of that year, after losing a vote of no confidence.

He said the road closure would only involve one street being closed from 10am to 4pm once a month on a Sunday, to coincide with and help promote the Salisbury Street Market.

It will also help achieve the council's climate change goals.

Jeremy Nettle (Image: Tom Gregory)

A trial period of one year, with approximately three such car-free days held, would be implemented to assess the feasibility of the scheme.

Cllr Nettle said: “I think [the PFS scheme] was maybe the wrong time and the wrong place, in fairness, and I think that we were talking about closing a number of streets.

"This is not that at all. This is closing a particular street, perhaps that butts onto Market Square. Maybe Blue Boar Row, to start with - I appreciate that’s where the buses come in - just to test some of this.”

Cllr Nettle said the designs of previous road closures for events in the past could be used as a template, including alternative stops for buses which usually use Blue Boar Row as a hub.

Blue Boar Row. Picture by Spencer Mulholland (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

Cllr Nettle said: “The blueprint for this is the [Salisbury] Carnival and that is exactly what happened during the Carnival. There was an alternative for the buses to get as close to the city as possible.”

During the Carnival, buses operated out of Coach Park instead.

Cllr Nettle has long been an advocate for the reduction of car usage during his tenure at city council and said he has seen pedestrianisation lead to economic prosperity for businesses in other cities.

He also said the success story of Market Square is a perfect example of the benefits pedestrianisation can bring.

Cllr Nettle said: “Just look now at the Market Square. We used to have cars on the Market Square and I was involved in that debate, and now we don’t have cars on the Market Square and look at what’s happening around there.

"There’s lots of coffee shops, there’s lots of hospitality opening up around there, which is great.”

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for transport, waste, street scene and flooding has already said that Wiltshire Council will not be supporting this initiative, and it will not go ahead. 

He said: "Wiltshire Council supports the aspiration to make Salisbury a more welcoming place for cyclists and pedestrians. However, a blanket ban on cars on a Sunday in the city centre on a road like Blue Boar Row would cause significant upheaval for local motorists and the buses which heavily use that route. We need to encourage people to come into Salisbury, not make it harder for them to visit.

"There may be options in the future for us to reconfigure the flow of traffic through the city centre to make the Market Place a more attractive destination. However, these ideas would need to be very carefully thought through and widely consulted on.

"As we saw with enormous public opposition to the Low Traffic Zone (LTZ) in 2020, blanket prohibitions of vehicles are not popular with Salisbury residents. I informed Cllr Nettle earlier this week that Wiltshire Council will not be supporting this initiative and it will not go ahead.”

The full city council meeting will take place in the Guildhall on November 14, from 6.30 to 8pm. 

To view the agenda click here.