'Overwhelming support for pedestrianised parade'

Plans to pedestrianise a main road through a town centre have received support from residents and people who work in the town centre, according to a survey.

The scheme will see cars and buses banned from Leamington Spa's Parade with trees, planting, seating and a cycle infrastructure set to be included in the design.

More than 3,000 people took part in a survey, organised by the Warwickshire town's transformation board, about the plans, 76% of which said they either agreed or strongly agreed with the project. People were "overwhelmingly supportive," a spokesman said.

The designs also make way for a new town square to be created for community events and performances.

"We hoped this is what we would find, but the survey has had a tremendous response and [people are] overwhelmingly supportive of the concept masterplan", Mark Lee, the independent chair of the Leamington Transformation Board, told BBC CWR.

The board is made up of members of the county, district and town councils and was established to guide town centre regeneration.

If the Parade closes, traffic will be diverted to Chandos Street with a bus interchange developed there, Lee said.

During the summer, Warwick District Council voted to give £2.5m to fund the next stage of design work.

Lee added: "We're a couple of years off seeing something like this starting but we do want to get some diggers in within the next couple of years.

"To manage expectations, you're not going to be seeing this in 2026 or 2027, but we're looking just a couple of years ahead. These major public projects do unfortunately take more time than you'd like to take."

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