Full Helston town centre redesign consultation details: pictures

A two-day consultation event opened at the Guildhall yesterday (Wednesday), with organisers estimating that almost 200 people had visited by 4pm on the first day, with the session open until 8pm.

It now reopens at 10am today (Thursday) and will remain open until 8pm again, with the Helston Place Shaping Team on hand to answer questions and a questionnaire to complete.

The Guildhall frontage with proposed new steps up leading onto a flattened entrance area Picture: MeiLoci

Here are all the proposals, in full:

Reimagining Helston’s High Streets

The main aim is to reduce traffic through the town centre, restore the quality of the streets by restoring the pavements and kennels, create more green spaces and direct people from the car parks to the town centre better.

Lower Monument Road – signs and/or traffic calming to indicate restricted access up Coinagehall Street

Grylls Monument Corner – open up the front of the monument with paved granite

Lady Street – access for residents only, one way

Coinagehall Street – traffic allowed one-way only, down the street; spaces for parking and loading kept to the south of the street

A CGI of how Coinagehall Street in Helston could look under the proposals Picture: Mei Loci Architects

Upton Ope and Coinage Ope – resurfaced with granite and cobbles for a more welcoming feel

Wheelbarrow Ope and Five Wells Lane – granite and cobbles to be restored, with new cobbles at Five Wells Lane

Guildhall and Market Place – new level access to the front of the Guildhall with widened pedestrian area; remove fire escape steps and relocate one or both phone boxes

A new granite entrance at each end of Upton Ope Picture: MeiLoci

Wendron Street – reduce on-street parking to lower Wendron Street, continue cobbled footpath from Wendron Street Car Park and ‘de-clutter’ signs and ticket machines

Upper Meneage Street – improved pavements for pedestrians

Meneage Street – widen street pavements and reduce on-street parking in one section, at the bottom of Horse and Jockey Lane (traffic flow and other parking to remain), to create new public area and trading space; opportunity to uncover and reinstate the kennels in this area, returning the old water pump

Horse and Jockey Lane – ‘de-clutter’ signs and electricity boxes, resurface with granite or cobbles and relocate handrail to create wider and more accessible route; create green area between here and the car park, with terraced area for events or overflow parking; repaint surrounding buildings in 'heritage colours' (blues, greens, reds, earthy tones)

How the top of Horse and Jockey Lane could look Picture: MeiLoci

Trengrouse Way car park – location for town service ‘hopper bus’ terminal with e-bike and scooter hire

A new flow of traffic would see vehicles enter the town centre down Meneage Street as currently, but Coinagehall Street would be one way down the street, and Church Street would become one-way only. Lady Street would be access to residents only, and Penhellaz Hill would be one-way down into St John’s, with no entry in the opposite direction into Cross Street.

A map showing the proposed direction of traffic in and around the town centre

Hopper Bus Service

It is proposed to link with a main bus depot and ‘connections hub’ at Tesco, and create a new ‘hopper bus’ depot in the Trengrouse Way car park, with small electric buses linking the car parks and outskirts of the town centre.

All large buses would be re-routed from Coinagehall Street, where up to 194 buses currently stop in the street every day.

Anthony Gilbert, from the Placing Shaping Team, said: "The longer term aspiration is that we will get rid of the volume of traffic from the town centre. The aspiration is to get all the big diesel buses going to a hub outside the town centre, and have the whole town linked together with a network of three or four electric buses - ten or 20 seaters.

A proposed bus dept outside the old Budgens building in the Trengrouse Way car park Picture: MeiLoci

"The analogy I give is a very, very mini London Underground system - no timetable, but buses that circle the town and outskirts, and housing estates. You could go to a stop and know that in ten or 15 minutes maximum the next bus would arrive.

"The idea is to stop people driving into the town; we have got to get less car dependant.

"It will take several years at least to put in place, but we have 194 big diesel buses stopping in Coinagehall Street every day and the average passenger rate is around three people per bus."

A map showing how a new hopper bus could link with outside buses

Walking and Cycling

The aim is enable as many residents as possible to cycle to most of Helston’s amenities, such as schools, medical centres, sports clubs and the town centre.

The proposed new road crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, a system of ‘shared use’ routes wide enough to accommodate both cyclists and walkers would allow an estimated 85% of the town’s residents to access facilities without needing to cycle on a main road.

Funding has already been secured from Cornwall Council for phase one, planned for this year, which incorporates new paths on the south side of Porthleven Road and south side of Trengrouse Way, a new pedestrian refuge in Meneage Road and a wider pedestrian refuge crossing over to Coronation Park from the free car park.

A map showing where the shared cycling and walking routes would ideally link

Proposals include new cycle routes along Church Hill past the college, stretching as far as the Water-ma-Trout industrial estate and the Lowertown roundabout, as well as along the Redruth Road, Falmouth Road to the bypass roundabout, along Meneage Road to the Cottage Hospital Roundabout and along Clodgey Lane.

Cultural Quarter

It is hoped to reinstate the walking link between the Museum of Cornish Life to the CAST building and Wendron Street car park, while refurbishing Market Place and the Drill Hall Yard for events, markets and community activities.

It would see the removal of the street fire escape staircase from the Guildhall and relocation of the telephone boxes, to give a view across to St Michael’s Church, with new accessible toilets created in the basement of Bowden’s to allow the Guildhall toilets to be converted into a new public meeting space facing onto Market Place.

A proposed new look the top of Coinagehall Street Picture: Mei Loci Architects

Budgens Building

Plans to redevelop the empty Budgens supermarket building in the Trengrouse Way car park have been well documented, with the idea to put a bouldering wall, large central area suitable for skating as well as markets or exhibitions on specific days, community cafe with balcony, youth cafe with training kitchen, and a community information point on the upper ground floor (former shop level), and create a new headquarters and music centre for Helston Town Band, along with council space, on the lower ground floor level.

You can read more about the plans in detail here: First look around Helston's empty Budgens in five years - and more plan details

The exhibition does include a proposed layout for the lower ground floor level of the building, showing space for a new base for Helston Town Band, Helston Town Council office space and equipment storage and Cornwall Council services, and commercial space for rent.

A proposed layout for the lower ground floor of the empty Budgens building

Further details can be accessed within the Projects section of the Discover Helston website https://discoverhelston.co.uk/ where feedback can also be left. 

The proposed new look in front of the museum and top of Church Street Picture: MeiLoci

A CGI shows maintaining the current traffic flow down Meneage Street, but changing a few car-parking spaces for better public space around Horse & Jockey Lane Picture: MeiLoci

A CGI looking down a one-way Coinagehall Street with parking on the left and widened pavement for market stalls and seating on the right Picture: MeiLoci