Public consultation and engagement summary
A substantial consultation exercise was carried out over six weeks in summer 2017, which focused on identifying the priorities of residents, visitors and businesses for improvements to Flitwick town centre through the station area regeneration scheme and how these align to the proposed concept scheme.
The consultation also included a separate section concerning the proposed improvements to the High Street, Station Road and Kings Road areas which is funded by the Council’s Market Town Regeneration Fund and being delivered in partnership with Flitwick Town Council.
In total 247 residents participated in the consultation by completing the survey, with:
- 78% (192) said they were Flitwick residents.
- 11.4% (28) said they were visitors of Flitwick
- 5.7% (14) as commuters
The findings of this consultation reveal strong support among residents for the regeneration scheme currently proposed.
Plans to revamp the station area have been welcomed and deemed necessary by many as Flitwick expands. There was broad support for the mix of proposed uses in the station area site, in the following order:
- retail and new services
- public transport interchange additional car parking
- new homes (32)
The specific themes and issues that emerged through the consultation were existing pedestrian access to the station is of concern due to the perceived safety issues around the railway bridge at peak times.
Key options and suggestions identified to deal with this, included step free access, which was therefore viewed as a positive objective, together with other potential solutions such as additional station access and a footbridge across the rail line.
Traffic flow as a whole was highlighted as a major problem for the station area and this is supported by the results and additional comments made by respondents, with significant support for options to improve traffic flow around the station.
Read the full report (link opens in new window) that went to the Executive Committee in December 2017.