Portswood Broadway closure plans ‘utterly moronic’

Protestors have once again spoken out against the proposals to partly pedestrianise Portswood High Street.

The next phase of the scheme has sparked fears surrounding loss of trade and council money.

'Barmy Labour plan'

Portswood resident Karen Edwards has long campaigned against the plans.

The 58-year-old said: “I would like to see consultation meetings, and for the council to close the road as a trial of the plans for two to four weeks.

“That way, they can see any weaknesses. If anything goes wrong, taxpayers’ money will be used to undo it, which seems pointless.

“The consultation needs to be inclusive.

“It’s really key to get everybody’s input and see what the results are. Everybody wants to be positive about it.”

Karen Edwards, right, at the protest held against the Portswood Broadway plans in March (Image: Newsquest)

A second consultation has been launched by Southampton City Council.

Councillor Jeremy Moulton, deputy leader of the Conservative group, is urging people to make their views known.

He said: “The plan to close Portswood Broadway is utterly moronic and it’s going cause a lot of problems for residents and businesses.

“To spend millions on this is even more outrageous given the council is close to bankruptcy.

“If the Labour council are hell bent on pursuing their plans I would suggest that at the very least the scheme is trialled for three months before millions are spent on a permanent scheme which might later have to be removed.”

On July 30, Cllr Moulton wrote to the Secretary of State of Transport concerning the planned closure of Portswood Broadway.

In writing to the secretary, he described it as ‘one of these ideologically driven anti-car schemes the Prime Minister has said he is going to crack down on’.

He said: “I am lobbying the Secretary of State to smooth the way for this funding to be directed to better transport initiatives which can command broad support locally.

“With this proactive common sense approach, the Prime Minister is pushing, we can stop this barmy Labour plan to close Portswood Road and use the money far more effectively.”

'Very popular'

The protest held against the plans in March (Image: Newsquest)

This comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urged the Mayor of London to ‘think twice’ on his plans to expand the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) to outer London.

He has since been blocked from overruling the expansion.

Speaking on Mr Sunak’s decision, Cllr Eammon Keogh said: “In a desperate attempt to try and sound popular, the Prime Minister fails to understand that in places like Southampton, measures like 20mph zones, school streets programmes and traffic calming measures have proven very popular and successful in keeping people safe and saving lives.

“As a council we were successful securing investment from his own government to make these improvements in our neighbourhoods; it would be a shame if it was removed, due to a petty political stunt.”