Saturday’s ‘drop in’ session with Transition Haverfordwest was open to everyone and had an environmental and sustainable theme . It was well attended and lots of ideas emerged in a constructive and lively debate around the table. We wrote/drew and plotted these on the Map.
Subjects on the agenda included:
Greening the river
Community Energy: what opportunities are there in Haverfordwest?
People and traffic: how can we share space and reduce pollution?
The local Economy: growing our own fresh produce
the Pembrokeshire Pound: benefits of a local currency
As often happens around a map, discussions encompassed many more ideas than just these. Our challenge was to get the ideas down on paper. Here’s a selection:
Extend the Conservation Area to include the east river bank and create a protected zone for greening and recreation
Plan a new linear park linking up existing green spaces along the river
A pizza tipi in the park…
Nocturne – atmospheric lighting from square to Castle
Reorganise the traffic flow – two-way around the periphery in Barn St etc
Adopt the French system for protected parking, with priority single traffic flow in narrow two way streets to avoid one-way systems.
A surfing weir – like Munich’s? (Sited downstream at Picton playing fields).
Reduce through traffic by stopping the ‘short-cut’ through town. Allow buses and ‘access only’ in Victoria place/Castle Square and High Street.
Create a large ‘shared space’ in the town centre including Victoria place Castle Square , High St, Dark St, Mariners Square and Market Street, and east- west from Quay street to Swan Square
A river lock downstream for boats -flood area below the weir for recreation and boating. Generate Hydro-Power from water passing through the new lock.
A debate around the current planning system of decision-making based on inflexible use-categories and development planning policies led to an interesting proposal for Haverfordwest. Why not create a people’s map that itself becomes a planning document for consultation?
Could this be part of, or adopted, within the master-planning report for Haverfordwest? This is currently being undertaken by planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield for Pembrokeshire County Council. We have the opportunity to explore this further when we meet Sarah Goy, Senior urban designer at Nathaniel Lichfield in our last session of the month on Friday 25th September.
updated BIG Map wshop programme 18.8.15
