A masterplan to regenerate the entrance area to King’s Lynn’s historic heart could see traffic diverted round the town's 15th century gatehouse.
The idea to send traffic around Lynn’s South Gate, rather than passing directly through it to enter the old town, was floated as one among several shake-ups in a new plan for the wider neighbourhood.
The proposals are being drawn up by a joint team of consultants, comprising urban design firm BDP, property advisors Montagu Evans and transport experts Urban Flow.
The team hopes the council will be able to pay for some of the changes proposed by applying for funding from pots of money identified in the government’s recent ‘levelling up’ white paper.
The team said several issues with the area had already been flagged up to them by local organisations, including the poor state of Southgates Park, an over-dominance of cars and not enough provision for pedestrians and cyclists.
There were said to be “varied views” about a road diversion around the South Gate itself.
One of the consultants, Tom Rudd, said both eventualities were being explored, though moving the road would come with “a high price tag”.
The possibilities were presented by the consultants to West Norfolk borough councillors at a Tuesday meeting of the council’s regeneration and development panel.
At the meeting, independent councillor Chris Morley warned: “I get the feeling that, if you’ll forgive the phrase, it’s analytical constipation here, and nothing’s going to come out.”
He added that projects should be “shovel-ready” to have the best chance of receiving government funds, and he was concerned the discussion was still too speculative.
Mr Rudd responded by saying the proposals would soon become more specific - and they did not want to produce a plan which ended up being too ambitious, or not ambitious enough.
Several councillors also expressed concern about green spaces being reduced as part of the scheme.
Independent councillor Alexandra Kemp said: “If this project takes away any green space, it will be a levelling down project.
“I can’t stress how important it is. In the town we’re short of 26 hectares of play area space - that was back in 2010, so you can think how much worse it is now.”
The team said councillors’ comments had been noted and that residents would be consulted on a drafted version of the masterplan at some point between April and June.
South Gate: Lynn’s historic entrance
Built in the 15th century, Lynn’s South Gate was most likely constructed on the foundations of a previous gatehouse from the reign of Edward III, who ruled from 1327 to 1377.
Until the 18th century, much of the town’s original walls, which linked the various gates, were still standing - but they were demolished as the town grew.
By 1899, London Road had widened beyond the reach of the gatehouse, meaning that only one lane of traffic now ran beneath it.
A restoration of the grade-1 listed South Gate, costing some £80,000, was completed in 1981.
Other studies have been carried out in recent years as to how to improve the area around the gate - with another set of consultants hired on at least one previous occasion.
Some councillors said on Tuesday they were concerned that the latest effort would also fail to move the area forwards, but the new team insisted they had taken the previous studies on-board, and were not working “from a standing start”.
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