By Pedestrianisation causes chaos on Sea View Street
Businesses on Sea View Street have expressed mixed perspectives on the recent pedestrianisation of the road, with some saying it has ruined business.
Although pedestrianising the area has been discussed for several years, it had been largely opposed.
Despite this, changes were put in place in June in order to improve social distancing when shoppers returned.
Without local businesses being consulted, the road was completely closed to non-essential vehicles.
According to North East Lincolnshire Council, this was due to the urgency of the works.
St Peter’s Avenue was also changed to a one-way system for vehicles from Mill Road / Cambridge Street roundabout to High Street, and Market Street is now also one-way for vehicles from St Peter’s Avenue to Alexandra Road.
Speaking at the time, Councillor Stewart Swinburn, Cabinet member for highways said:
“It was always the case that we were going to take local views into account, but we had to publish the early plans in order to have the legal basis to put them in place on Sunday to help the high street reopen safely.
“Coming out of the lock-down situation was never going to be easy.
“We’re doing the best we can to help local businesses in Cleethorpes with these changes.
“We know that they will have more than enough to think about with social distancing measures inside their stores.
“This is about giving people enough room to circulate in the public spaces, and help provide that confidence that people can come back to the high streets safely.
“We’re going to put these measures in from Sunday night this week, and we’ll keep them under review to see if we need to tweak them in terms not only of how they work, but also in response to any further changes to government guidance in the coming weeks, particularly in relation to the reopening of pubs and clubs.”
Despite the changes being temporary, many local businesses say that pedestrianising the road has destroyed the road and their ability to trade effectively.
Some have reported a decrease in passing trade due to the lack of parking and vehicle access, while others say footfall has improved.
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