the NLG on St John's Street
Good evening.

This is a rare email, so please forgive me, but I believe it’s important. 

The gallery is half way up St John’s Street, which has a temporary one-way system in place which is being trialed these last six weeks.

Keswick Town Council is due to sit in judgement on this trial this Thursday.

If you’ve read the Keswick Reminder of late or viewed the FB pages locally, you may have seen this development, it’s now settled down and is working fabulously. 95% of every social media post and comment & the various articles agree with it.

The street receives far less vehicular traffic, it’s all headed in one (predictable) direction, is far less congested and much, much safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike. 

Summer 2020, Covid-19 Emergency Measures & funding sees the promised trial of a one-way system implemented running along Station and then into St John’s Street.

This has the two main stated aims:
a) better enabling pedestrians to social distance,
b) facilitate a far safer passage of people along the two pavements. 

This also mirrors exactly the overall strategy of the "Keswick Parking & Access Review" which was carried out last year, endorsed by all three councils, whose £80K+ budget & findings gave us, as it’s No1 recommendation, making Station Street & into St Johns Street one-way.

 

Why am I receiving this email?

 
Quite simply, there is a chance that this project will be rejected at the final hurdle, on Thursday, that the small 5% forces of negativity & doxa will prevail and overturn all the gains made in securing this trial and the one-way system will be consigned to history.

If you have an opinion, then I am asking you please to email your thoughts to Laura the overseer at Cumbria County Council, Paul, Keswick's Town Mayor, and Keswick's Town Clerk,  Lynda.

All three emails HERE


History of this action to make the street safer can, in part, be see in the 100+ videos HERE uploaded to YouTube.

Whilst there is very little swearing, the author gets a little excited at times! Turn the audio off maybe?

I would not ask you to email if I did not consider this an important issue.

A example of what it's like even now HERE

Thus, if we can secure the road as one-way, the 150m stretching up from the pedestrian area, namely: CherryDidi, past Love the Lake, Red Gecko, Keswick Antiques, Keswick Collectables, Northern Lights Gallery, View Points, Dark Passions Tattoos, Viridian Gallery and our 107yr old cinema, this area could become a destination in & of its own, a "Bohemian Quarter", replete with bars, cafes and restaurants, again, of which we have four already.

By my estimation, the businesses in this 150m of street represent over 275 artists, a cause worth emailing about.

If we lose this battle, no one will entertain suggesting this one-way idea for many, many years, & with more Zoom meetings, people working from home, far more Amazon and Uber deliveries, more visitors on StayCations, this one-way system represents a real opportunity, going some way to securing the safety of visitors and locals alike who navigate these two streets.

Video Link