By Ours design proposals for Cowley Hill shared ahead of public event

Cowley Hill residents and businesses are invited to attend the session in March to hear more about the proposals of a pioneering project that they have helped shape to create safer, healthier, and more attractive streets where they live.

Cowley Hill 'ideal location' for project

In May 2020, St Helens Borough Council was selected as one of the first local authority areas in the city region to take part in ‘By Ours’. This is a Freshfield Foundation-funded liveable neighbourhood scheme run in partnership with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and charity, Sustrans, to help communities reimagine their streets and support a number of council objectives, such as increasing levels of walking and cycling across the borough.

As an area linked to developments, several schools and within walking distance of St Helens town centre, Cowley Hill was chosen as the ideal location for the initiative based on suitability data, with the council securing £500,000 in Department for Transport (DfT) Active Travel Funding to progress the project further.

Following a number of consultation exercises that resulted in residents, schools and businesses putting forward ideas on what they would like to see in the streets and green spaces in a one square mile area of Cowley Hill, design proposals for infrastructure improvements - subject to continued resident feedback, with some aspects requiring planning permission - have been drafted.

The Star has reported on some recent planning applications submitted in relation to some of the proposals, including a 'Pocket Park' on Cooper Street and a foot and cycle path at Bishop Road Playing Fields.

The open space at Cooper Street (Image: Google Street View)

Draft proposals include:

•  A signalised pedestrian crossing on Duke Street, to the west of Hamer Street
•   Footway accessibility improvements across a West-East corridor from Bishop Road to North Road, with the inclusion of dropped kerbs
•  Junction improvements through the provision of raised junction tables incorporating uncontrolled pedestrian crossing facilities. These also act as vertical traffic calming features. The five junctions are: Bishop Road/ Wynne Road junction, Wynne Road/ Cowley Hill Lane junction, Cowley Hill Lane/ Windle Street junction, Windle Street/ Stanhope Street/ Morello Close junction, and Windle Street/ North Road/ Lord Street junction
•  A new green space 'Pocket Park' at Cooper Street / Chapel Street that includes a new link between Cooper Street and Halefield Street, incorporating new seating provision, tree planting, litter bins, improved lighting, and cycle parking (requires planning approval)
•  A new active travel route providing a shared use footway and cycleway across Bishop Road Playing Fields, between Bishop Road and Elderflower Road. This will link the community to local primary schools and green amenities, with the incorporation of new seating provision, tree planting, litter bins, and improved lighting (requires planning approval)

Cllr Seve Gomez-Aspron, deputy leader of St Helens Borough Council and cabinet member for strategic transport, said:

“By Ours is proving to be a very useful initiative for us to gain a better understanding of what residents and businesses think of the areas where they live, visit, work or go to school, with respondents telling us that they feel Cowley Hill is a good place to spend time for socialising and walking, but highlighted a number issues such as traffic speed and volume which I’m delighted has been taken into consideration and will form a key part of the overall improvements package.

“As we approach the next phase and take a step closer in delivering the improvements residents and anyone else associated with the area want to see, I’d encourage those with an interest in the project to attend our community engagement event to find out more about the final proposals that they have been instrumental in bringing forward, which align with most of our main council priorities of promoting good health, creating strong, safe communities and a well-connected economy – as well creating green and vibrant places we can all be proud of.”

• An engagement drop-in event ahead of the next stage of By Ours will be held in the Deafness Resource Centre, Dentons Green Road, on Thursday, March 7, with council officers available between 10:00am-1:00pm and 3pm-6:30pm to take any questions on the proposals.