Letter: Business owner says Fisherton Street has 'improved'

Against all the odds we have a much improved street scene and whilst post-Covid budgets didn’t allow everything we had hoped for, as a business owner I would like to celebrate the positives.  

Fisherton Street has really benefited from this investment and I want to thank everyone who has made it happen.  

Thank you to all my fellow shop owners, who supported the plans from the start and many of whom have attended long and sometimes tedious consultation meetings, in the evenings after long days at work, with the designers, contractors and Wiltshire Council engineers to create the sort of street we all wanted.  

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Thank you to Wiltshire Council for supporting our street and entering a winning bid to access ring-fenced Government funding for us (this money hasn’t come out of local budgets, council tax etc).  

Thank you to the designers for engaging with us, the business owners and local people, and taking our thoughts and wishes into consideration.  

Thank you to Milestone who have transformed our street and kept us in the loop along the way.  And thank you to Paddington for choosing to rest on one of our benches!

I know the process hasn’t been without problems and challenges and has taken much longer than we all hoped.  

Sadly some businesses and people have been more impacted than others. But now that the street is completed, bar the snagging, I hope and believe we can make up for lost time and welcome locals and visitors to explore our new wide, pedestrian friendly pavements, flanked by wonderful independent businesses.

'I hope and believe we can make up for lost time' (Image: Spencer Mulholland Photography)

I call on you all to embrace the positives of the pinch point traffic filter, as it will slow down the car speeds and make pedestrians the priority.  In our street, previously a dangerous rat run, pedestrians were never the priority and yet they are the life blood of most of our businesses.

READ MORE: Pictures: Fisherton Street opens to two way traffic

 We wanted to create a street which balanced the priorities of all users a bit more equally and even at this early stage I feel the design is achieving that.  

Finally, I would like to ask everyone to take a walk along the street and back so you can see for yourselves how much better it is when you are not in a car and hopefully you will be tempted to pop into one of our fabulous shops and eateries whilst you stroll along.

Deborah Fox

Joint owner at Fisherton Mill