The Development of a Public Realm Strategy is one of the key projects of the Salisbury Vision. It was included as a project within the Salisbury Vision document that was adopted by Salisbury District Council and Wiltshire County Council in 2006. The proposed Public Realm Strategy has a number of objectives that relate to improving and enhancing the city’s existing streets and public spaces in a coherent fashion.

This includes providing a framework for investment in the public realm of Salisbury and refocusing on the ‘place making’ function of streets and spaces for the use of people rather than for traffic. The Strategy builds upon the ideas within the 2006 Vision document, developed through more recent work commissioned by the Vision and aims to enhance the image of the City and provide a better place in which to live, work and visit. The purpose of the draft strategy now developed is to provide a framework for future investment with the goal of delivering a high quality, coherent spaces within the city. This includes de-cluttering the streets and the removal of unnecessary signage and street furniture (i.e. traffic management signs, bins, bollards, guard rails, service boxes, road markings etc). The strategy also proposes a specification for future investment, that will allow a consistency of approach and an established quality threshold for all new installations, including:

• Street furniture
• Planting, trees and open space
• Lighting
• Signs
• Public Art
• Surface Treatments

A draft Public Realm Strategy has now been developed by a team led by Salisbury Vision supported by Wiltshire Council. The Vision appointed a team of advisers led by architects Letts Wheeler to develop and prepare the document for consultation. The Letts Wheeler team, is the same team chosen to develop designs for the enhancement of Salisbury’s Market Place. The draft is now available to view here.

It is anticipated that this document will be formally consulted upon to be incorporated into the Council’s formal planning policy, possibly by way of a Supplementary Planning Document. The Salisbury Vision team is working with Wiltshire Council’s Forward Planning team to progress this in conjunction with the Council’s emerging Local Development Framework.