Kegworth Public Realm you said we did

You said, we did – responses to the key issues raised

We want to thank everyone who shared their views about the proposed new designs for Market Place and the work on London Road to improve pedestrian access and reduce the speed of traffic entering the village.

All the feedback has been reviewed and below you will see the six key themes from the feedback and how we are using these to inform and shape the final designs for both Market Place and London Road. As the plans are developed, we will share these with you.

Parent and child spaces

The use of the Market Place by people with young children and pushchairs has been considered in the new design. The design includes wider footpaths, safer access to the shops and direct access to the paved areas from all car parking spaces.

Due to constraints of space and the shape and camber of Market Place, we have not been able to include specific parent and child spaces in the new layout.

Residents and businesses have also previously made it clear they don’t want to see a reduction in overall parking spaces. This was an important consideration in the design and as parent and child spaces take up a bigger area than standard parking spaces, we were unable to include them.

The new layout enables people exiting their vehicles from any space immediate access to a pedestrian area instead of onto the car park, making it safer for parents with young children. There are also a number of spaces where there is room to open car doors to easily get a baby car seat out.

Two-hour parking limit

A two-hour parking limit for Market Place and one-hour limits for the spaces on London Road adjacent to Market Place, were agreed by Kegworth Parish Council at their meeting in June. The Parish Councillors listened to residents who wanted to see the limits restored after the temporary ETRO expired.

As there are a number of spaces in the area around Market Place with either four-hour limits or that have no limits at all, two hours on Market Place was considered appropriate.

Kegworth Parish Council will continue to monitor the use of Market Place and the surrounding area for car parking and the time limits available.

Crossing point

Following feedback, the design has been revised to include a dropped-kerb crossing point joining Market Place and the church side. On the church side, the plans have been updated to widen the kerb to allow a better view of on-coming traffic for pedestrians – and to make them more visible. This has the added benefit of making the pavement running along the church wall wider and better for everyone, including wheeled users and people with pushchairs. A dropped kerb and tactile paving will mark the crossing point. 

On the Market Place side, the kerb has been moved to create a deeper bus stand and, again, the kerb line has been moved to allow better sight for people wanting to cross the road. By moving both kerbs, this also narrows the road and reduces the distance pedestrians need to cover to cross the road. 

Whattton Road junction

Concerns were raised that the work on London Road to widen and improve the pavements and introduce a build-out to slow traffic entering the village would make it more difficult to join London Road from Whatton Road. 

Modelling has so far demonstrated that the build out on London Road will make exiting Whatton Road safer as traffic coming into the village will be slower and will approach the junction on the opposite side of the road, making it more visible to road users leaving Whatton Road. 

In response to the concerns, further modelling is being undertaken to confirm this and to determine whether the bus stop on the opposite side to the junction will need to be moved. 

To further improve the safety of vehicles coming out of Whatton Road, double yellow lines will be introduced to remind drivers not to park illegally within 10 metres of a junction. These will be narrow and in a primrose yellow to respect the conservation status of this area of the village. 

Blue badge spaces

Questions were raised during the engagement around the siting of the Blue Badge spaces in the new layout. There were suggestions that these should be moved to outside the Co-op entrance.

Re-opening the South Entrance and the constraints of the space and camber adjacent to the Co-op would make it unsafe and difficult to include two Blue Badge spaces outside the Co-op. As Blue Badge spaces take up a bigger area than standard parking spaces, there are limited places to site these while maintaining the same number of parking spaces overall.

While putting the design together, a number of options were considered, however the design shared was considered the safest, worked within the constraints of the space and maintained the overall number of spaces.

It also considered that Blue Badge holders parking in Market Place would want to access all the village centre shops and not just the Co-op.

In the initial design, provision was made for cycle parking adjacent to the Blue Badge parking spaces. These will now be moved to the opposite side of the re-opened Southern Entrance to allow more room for people to get in and out of their cars when parked in these spaces.

Addition of trees and seating

Requests were made for a seating area and the introduction of trees to the Market Place to create an area to sit with shade and to introduce some greenery. 

It is not possible to plant trees directly into the ground on Market Place as, as they grow, their roots may affect the aqueduct that runs under the area. As this aqueduct carries water for thousands of businesses and homes in Leicestershire and beyond, we definitely don’t want to damage this in any way! 

As an alternative, we intending to introduce three or four planters large enough the hold smaller trees, such as birch, with seating adjacent.