Southampton city centre transport plan to go ahead

Plans drawn up for the roads around Southampton Central Station are also under review

An £18.5m transport scheme to transform central Southampton has been approved.

Several projects from new road closures to the creation of pocket parks across the city centre, will begin in the coming months.

Southampton City Council has approved the final proposals after two years of political wrangling between the Labour and Conservative council groups.

Transport cabinet member Eamonn Keogh said the scheme would transform the way in which people move around the city.

Funding for the various projects is being provided by central government.

The final proposals include plans for a new bus hub at Albion Place car park, restrictions to motor traffic on East Park Terrace and Portland Terrace, and a new pocket park to replace the junction of Devonshire Road and Cumberland Place.

A new park is also going to be created off Castle Way while there will be new pedestrian and cycle crossings at the junctions of Civic Centre Road with Havelock Road and Portland Terrace.

East Park Terrace will become a bus-only route between Charlotte Place and New Road

New bus stops and waiting areas, taxi pick-up and drop-off facilities as well as cycle parking spaces will instead be part of a new transport interchange outside Southampton Central Station.

The final scheme comes as initial plans were amended after some elements of the project became unaffordable due to "unprecedented inflation".

The final proposals were unveiled last month and were expected to be approved at a full council meeting which was then cancelled following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The city council has now confirmed that the scheme has been approved under a "delegated decision notice" following a consultation with opposition councillors.

The move comes as the plans had already been backed by the Department for Transport, which will fund the scheme.

Work on the various projects is expected to begin in 2023 and completed by 2024 and the closure of Devonshire Road to motor traffic is expected to be completed by next summer.

The closure of Devonshire Road comes as work to improve traffic flow along the Northern Inner Ring Road is under way