THE FIRST big step in Petersfield town centre becoming more pedestrian and cycle friendly has been agreed.

At a meeting in the Town Hall council chamber last Friday, the Petersfield Development Committee recommended about £27,000 was set aside for a traffic survey.

It will monitor and record traffic in the town centre, from the railway station, down Lavant Street, along Chapel Street, and in The Square and High Street.

The survey will be a reference document for future plans to slow down and reduce traffic in the town centre, so it can potentially be a shared space for cars, pedestrians and cyclists.

Committee chairman John Palmer said: “We have no evidence to back up any of the issues around town centre traffic. For example we don‘t know how much traffic uses The Square so it can’t be judged what effect pedestrianising it might have.

“This survey will be fundamental to any development of the town. Without this data we won’t be able to get anything done.”

The last traffic survey was completed in the 1990s said Petersfield Mayor Jamie Matthews, who was part of the team which produced the Petersfield Neighbourhood Plan (PNP).

At a referendum in November 2015, residents voted to adopt the plan as a development blue print for the town until 2028 and it sets out a vision for the town centre.

It says the town would benefit from less traffic, and a shared space culture where fewer and slower moving cars, pedestrians and cyclists could safely mix freely.

And it is hoped that fewer vehicles in the town will encourage a café culture atmosphere, even leading to more leisure use of The Square during week days.

At a meeting in December it was agreed once a traffic survey was completed, which should be June, a town centre project brief could be sent out to contractors.

The work may be worth millions of pounds, but it is likley it will be done in stages as money becomes available.

Committee member and Hampshire county councillor Russell Oppenheimer said: “We need the traffic survey to move forward.

“Once we have the survey report I hope we could have some actual proposals costed by the end of the year.”