60 years of congestion inaction

Born and bred in the area and returning after many years’ absence I am frankly astonished that nothing at all has been done about traffic congestion in the Town Centre since I left in 1953! Many visitors to the town, attracted by its historic and culinary delights, have already had quite a stiff climb into the town but are unlikely to repeat the experience once they have had to struggle with narrow, uneven pavements and unpleasantly close contact with the traffic while the poor residents simply have to lump it every day!

A few suggestions come to mind:
Short term:

• Residents of the Town Centre to be issued with “access permits” – no other traffic (except disabled drivers, the community bus, taxis and pedal cycles) allowed between say, 11am and 3pm. All delivery lorries restricted to before 10am with, possibly, weight limits on such vehicles.
• At other times restrict waiting time to 30 minutes without a pre-arranged permit for eligible reasons e.g. furniture removal.
  Appoint appropriate wardens to enforce the above.
• Increase off-street parking – especially on market day – the disputed Tesco/Sainsbury site in Ferry Road is reasonably close.
  Make provision for residents to rent/use designated parking spaces out of the centre at preferential rates.

Longer term:

• Build on the above improvements by raising the level of the roads that are not cobbled to pavement height to create a totally “shared-space” environment combined with a 10 m.p.h. speed limit throughout.