TPC backs bid to pedestrianise Falmouth
FALMOUTH, Trelawny — The Trelawny Parish Council is backing the state-run Urban Development Corporation (UDC’s) proposal to pedestrianise Falmouth’s town centre.
” We are in full support of it. We believe that it will be good for business in the town,” Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager told the Observer West yesterday.
The UDC is proposing that the entire Water Square — where a large number of businesses are located–will be isolated from vehicular traffic on days when cruise ships making calls at the soon to be developed Falmouth pier.
The proposal, however, has been harshly criticised by sections of the Falmouth business community, who are maintaining that the initiative would impact negatively on their businesses.
“It will kill the commerce of the town…all the stores in the centre of the town including Courts (furniture store), the pharmacies, the Trelwany Co-operative Credit Union, NCB (National Commercial Bank) the lawyer office, myself, supermarkets as well as all the stores along Seaboard Street will be affected,” said Richard Shirley, a gas station operator, whose businessplace is located on the periphery of the small town centre in a recent interview with the Observer West.
But yesterday, Gager who is also the chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council emphasised that he does not support the view of those businessmen.
” It will not affect them because Market Street would still be opened to vehicular traffic so motorists could still have access to Mr Shirley’s gas station, for instance,” Gager noted.
He argued that the pedestrianisation of the town on “ship days” is deemed necessary, given the expected large number of cruise ship visitors.
” We think that it would be too much congestion to have the vehicles coming through the town on cruise ship days, when there will a lot of tourists and locals in the Water Square area, so we think that we should give the people a little room for them to move about,” Gager explained.
As of November, cruise ships are scheduled to start making calls at the Falmouth pier, which is being developed at a cost of $7.5 billion by the Port Authority of Jamaica in collaboration with the Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited.
