The downside of a large increase in visitors to Alnwick is increased traffic congestion and pressure on car parking. Tourism is Alnwick's growth area and hence its future source of prosperity. I want to see Alnwick grow economically without spoiling the special character that makes it such a wonderful place to live. It is a question of balance, and however much some of us may regret that Alnwick has been "discovered", there is no turning back the clock and we have to manage the problems as best we can, bearing in mind they are problems of success, not failure.
Alnwick is a horse and cart town with a compact and crowded town centre where cars cannot be accommodated in large numbers, whatever we do. There is some potential for developing parks on the town's periphery, but a consequence of Alnwick's increased popularity as a place to live is that land is worth a great deal more for housing than anything else. This has frustrated recent attempts by council officers to acquire land to develop for car parking. The building of a large new car park on Denwick Lane for visitors to the Alnwick Garden has eased much of the pressure on town centre spaces. Although removal of car parking from the Marketplace has not been a success, there remains a strong case for re introducing limited short term parking on non-market days. However, the Council has now rejected this option because of the risk that partners in the original marketplace refurbishment could demand back substantial sums of money. The best solution is in the hands, or rather the feet, of residents. Able bodied citizens could do much to ease the problems by justifying their car journeys more rigorously and walking whenever this is an option. I do try to set an example here! The council has also made alternative arrangements for coaches to prevent them taking up valuable car parking spaces when empty. We have also made changes to the layout of the Greenwell Lane car park and freed up a total of 44 extra spaces. More spaces (16) have also been found at the Old Brewery car park.
The only other options are resident parking schemes and park and ride facilities. The former carry heavy costs to administer and enforce, as well as usually limiting residents to one vehicle per household street space, but a group of councillors and officers are working on plans, now well advanced, to bring proposals to key parts of Alnwick. As for park and ride, I am not yet convinced that we need to adopt this scheme, but I keep close watch on Alnwick traffic problems.
Personally, I find that most of the traffic management schemes suggested have been impractical. I am sceptical about one way streets around Alnwick town centre, because they tend to promote excessively high traffic speeds without solving much. Sometimes it is best to accept that getting through Alnwick takes a bit of time at peak periods. Do we really want to speed up town centre traffic? We could do with more pedestrian crossings, and I will be pressing the County Council to undertake these.
