Local Democracy Weekly: A roadmap for Lincolnshire’s capital

Two separate plans for the future of Lincoln have this week been revealed to residents, and there are some key considerations to take away.

The first to be released was Lincolnshire County Council’s Transport Strategy for Lincoln which focused on tackling a significant predicted growth over the next few years.

Meanwhile, the Vision 2025 strategy set to go before City of Lincoln Council leaders on Monday took a wider view, outlining plans for new housing, enhancements to the city centre and further regenerations of “forgotten areas”.

However, the two appeared to line-up in several areas – including a push for reduced traffic and more sustainable traffic options including greater reliance on buses, park and rides, and the creation of routes for cycling and walking.

In a comment city council officers welcomed the report, saying they were “pleased to note” the above along with moves to tackle climate change and reclaim the city centre for pedestrians.

Readers, however, were more dubious.

Many outlying villages such as Heighington, Washingborough and Skellingthorpe have seen bus services reduced over the years.

Bob Chatterton called the evening bus schedules “laughable”.

“We would love to be able to go into town for an evening and be able to get a bus home. An hourly return bus service up to 11.30pm would be a positive start,” he said.

Linda Freestone added: “Our bus service (Scothern) has just been axed so they can’t be very bothered about encouraging people to use public transport.”

Meanwhile, others said more needed to be done to educate cyclists to use the dedicated lanes instead of the road.

Later in the week, that would be matched by calls for drivers to learn the highway code as the issue of merging traffic raised its head again.

Suggestions of a park and ride system, however, were given a massive thumbs up, as was the potential for previously closed railway stations to be reopened. Residents seemed keen on being able to park up outside the city and hitch a ride in.

The big problem at the moment, is that neither document is fleshed out enough to see how much benefit all these big ideas will bring. Nor does it lay out specific timetables or costs for many of the items.

Without details it’s harder to see whether they will work.

Each one will be looked at further in coming months, let’s hope they don’t just idle in the traffic of other hopes and dreams.

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