It has been fantastic to see Active Travel being supported in Salisbury by our City Council. As reported in the Salisbury Journal “Salisbury to trial car-free days in city centre this year” Cllr Jeremy Nettle proposed a pilot scheme which was supported with £40,000 in the city council’s 2026/27 budget at a Guildhall meeting on Monday (January 12) to ensure that this activity goes ahead.
Cllr Nettle is very much aware that “car free days and pedestrian‑priority streets” support traders and bring increased footfall and income for our shops.
As reported in the Telegraph Newspaper not all councillors approved of the car free days with Cllr Ed Rimmer saying that the scheme “sends out the message that we’re anti cars”. He also suggested that “In a rural county like Wiltshire, people need to be able to drive to get to work, they need to be able to drive to get to the shops, they need to be able to drive to live their lives – Stopping people from driving is very damaging to our local economy”.
Of course such views are outdated and out of step with the lived experience in Salisbury. You only have to look at the High St to see how successful car free areas can be for the city with the high volume of both pedestrians and cyclists using the street and enjoying the café culture on a daily basis.
Salisbury has 1000’s of car parking spaces and residents will be able to enter the city to use the car parks as they do on every other day of the year. In addition we have excellent local bus services in the city which residents will be encouraged to use on these car free days.
Leader of the City Council, Councillor Samuel Charleston, who also supported the initiative indicated that “There have been many studies into the advantages of pedestrianisation, including one commissioned by Living Streets in 2024 that showed that pedestrians tend to spend more money than those arriving by car, and pedestrianised town centres have higher sales.” In addition he added that “ “pilot scheme, for three days of closures, solely around the market square, and very likely to be on Sundays or Bank Holidays”.”
So this is a great step forward for our city and we must support our city councillor’s to ensure that that car free days are a success.
What can you do?
Write to Cllrs Nettle and Charleston to thank them for supporting local residents and businesses and send a letter to the Salisbury Journal to show your support for car free days and active travel.
JNettle@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk
SCharleston@salisburycitycouncil.gov.uk
newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk
