Letter to the editor

Possible road closures around the Wet Dock

from Ken Nichols

At the Ipswich Building Preservation Trust AGM held at Isaacs on the Waterfront on October 29, Dr Geraint Coles, lecturer in Cultural Heritage at UCS, mooted several interesting ideas during an excellent illustrated talk. One idea which I hope will be taken up is that Salthouse Street, Key Street and College Street could be closed for at least one day a year to give an idea of how amazing it would be to extend the Waterfront towards the town centre.

The public of Ipswich has been used to seeing closed roads for cycle sport, marathons and Christmas Markets since the 1970s. Therefore closing the above streets on the Sunday of Heritage Weekend should be possible without too much of an outcry.

Just imagine the sight of those streets free of traffic for just one day a year, with stalls and Ipswich Transport Museum vehicles parked for people to explore and for the crowds to enjoy the freedom to walk through to the Waterfront. There is another bonus to this idea. The Council could monitor where traffic will travel to avoid the closures, ready for the day when the ideal situation for this route would be part of the Waterfront.