Improvements to the Leather Lane Market area

Overview

The Council has developed proposals to make Leather Lane market area a better place for traders, residents, businesses and visitors. This leaflet sets out these proposals, and as a local resident, business or group, this is your opportunity to let us know what you think.

Leather Lane has a well established market that trades on the street throughout the week. The street is also lined with a variety of popular small independent shops. Currently, when the market is on, vehicles drive through Leather Lane which makes the street less safe for market traders and pedestrians walking through the market. We are therefore proposing changes to make the area safer during market hours but understand that there are many other businesses in this area and therefore want to minimise any impact on these businesses.

To stop vehicles using Leather Lane when the market is on, we are proposing to close access to Leather Lane. However, as other roads lead directly to Leather Lane, they would also be affected. Closing these adjacent roads would also require changes to parking and loading; these are described in this leaflet.

There are a number of parking bays provided just for use by market traders on market days. Whilst these provide a trader space to park, our surveys show that a number of these are not occupied. which can be frustrating for residents who wish to park

One of the reasons for this is that a number of traders are parking in Greville Street car park which is owned by the Council. Although only 5 spaces in this car park are allocated to traders, a larger number of traders are parking in this car park. We want to manage this space better so that we can consider using some of the space for other uses such as storage of trader goods and market stall units; this will help keep Leather Lane clean and tidy overnight when the market is not in operation.

Officers visited the market area last year and discussed proposals with the Leather Lane Community Association and a number of local businesses. These proposals have since been developed to ensure that pedestrian and trader safety is considered when the market is operational and the proposals meet the needs of the residents, traders and local businesses.