Pedestrian-Friendly Palmeira Square (August 2006, updated October 2006)

By Melanie Davis

If you’ve been travelling from Church Road to Western Road recently it would be hard not to wonder what all the road works and disruption are about. Since January this year there have been diggers and hard-hatted workers, redeveloping Palmeira Square with its famous Floral Clock. Now, we can begin to see how it’s all going to look and work.

The idea behind the scheme is to reduce vehicle speeds and improve road safety, and provide improvements to bus stops and taxi ranks, to encourage more public transport use.

All the kerbs have been built-out and widened, so crossing the roads will be much easier and safer for pedestrians. The historical granite setts on either side of the Floral Clock will be at the same level as the new paved footways.

Quality materials and heritage stone sympathetic with the historic square have been used wherever possible. The idea is to return the gardens and square back to public use and make it much more accessible by foot. In the past sometimes felt like an island marooned by the busy traffic island.

The traffic flow will continue around both sides of the Floral Clock but with a reduced carriageway width, and just a single lane of running traffic in either direction. This will help to slow down the vehicles driving through.

New traffic signals, with pedestrian crossing facilities have been installed at the busy junction of Church Road with Holland Road and Western Road, which will make crossing much safer for all pedestrians. And, there will much improved street lighting.

The redevelopment should benefit all of us who live in Hove with a much friendlier, more attractive and safer environment.

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