Monmouthshire residents have raised their concerns about the Monnow Street 'pinchpoint' trial, due to start at the end of the month.

At a public meeting attended by about 40 people last Wednesday (12th January), Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) officers were grilled about the scheme.

Colin Phillips, regeneration, environment, and resources officer, explained that the pinchpoint was being trialled with a view to improving pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow.

He said: "We are aware that the narrow area at the top of Monnow Street often creates a problem between motorists and pedestrians, with regular complaints of people being clipped by wing mirrors as two vehicles try to squeeze past each other.

"We are therefore trying to create a situation where interaction between both pedestrains and motorists will slow the speed of traffic in the area down.

"We are hoping that the narrowing will lead to a more regulated passage in this area."

He was keen to stress that the scheme is just a trial and that MCC will be taking all the findings from it into consideration before making it a permanent thing.

Paul Keeble, traffic network manager, said: "To have sub-standard footway in this area is not acceptable.

"Initially the idea was to narrow the whole section of Monnow Street between St John Street and Agincourt Square so that the carriageway would be three metres wide.

"After conducting traffic studies, it was decided that this would probably cause more congestion than MCC could deal with, with an average of between 600 and 700 vehicles travelling up and down Monnow Street per hour.

"Instead, the narrowing to three metres will now be around 15 metres in length, with the rest of the area being narrowed to four metres, bringing it up to highways standard.

"Pedestrains will then have a safer environment.

"There will be a splayed edge on the temporary kerb, which vehicles will be able to bump up onto if needed as a last resort.

"Obviously we cannot predict the attitude of the driver, but we are hoping that an informal arrangement between drivers will occur when it comes to passing through the narrowing."

A Monmouth resident asked how the council would deal with the problem of queueing traffic through the town.

Mr Keeble said: "The scheme is not designed to improve traffic flow, but to improve pedestrian safety".

Trevor Russell, who believed the scheme to be a waste of money, wanted to know how MCC would be measuring its success.

He was told that the council would be looking to see if traffic flows well through the area, if accidents are avoided and that they would be looking for issues raised by public feedback.

Toby Elliott said that although he was in support of the scheme, he believed that it would also benefit from a 20mph speed limit.

Mr Phillips asked everyone to be patient during the first few weeks of the trial while everyone becomes familiar with it.

He also asked that motorists take alternative routes through Monmouth at peak times if possible.

Paul Keeble said there would be no changes to the current loading restrictions in the area and that signage would be put up to inform people of the trial.

Inspector Mike Boycott reminded people that the general rules of the road would still apply.

MCC will be looking for as much public feedback as possible while the trial is in place.

For further information about the trail you can visit http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/">www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/

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