As 2020 draws to a close, so does our team’s role in the Wick Street Design Project. We are now in the process of handing over the project to the Highland Council and Wick Community Council. But before we do, we want to thank you for joining us on this journey to create a new image for Wick’s pedestrian precinct as a warm, welcoming and attractive place for people to gather and move around in.This year has brought with it many challenges, but also many uplifting moments that we’ve been pleased to share with you. Since the project launched in October last year, Wickers have been pulling up their sleeves to install planters, paint a bench, develop design ideas and celebrate Wick’s heritage. Even with Covid restrictions forcing us to cancel many of the events we had planned to engage you all in the design process, your community champions on our project steering group worked hard to make sure you were able to have your say on the proposals. The effort that you all have put in to guide the design process has been invaluable, and together we have produced a concept design that is truly representative of the views and needs of local people.We are pleased to finally be able to add the completed concept design (check <a href="https://wickstreetdesign.commonplace.is/proposals/concept-design-december-2020 ">here</a> ) <a href="https://wickstreetdesign.commonplace.is/proposals/concept-design-december-2020"></a> to your Christmas stockings! They will also be available to view in person outside Caithness in the new year. If you’re safely able to be out and about in January, do take a look.With our support, Councillor Nicola Sinclair’s and the Community Council have applied to Sustrans’ Places for Everyone programme for further funding to progress this concept design to the final stages: 1) technical design, where more detail will be added, such as specific material choices and precise measurements; and 2) construction. We have recommended that the steering group continue to be involved in the project during these next stages to ensure that the community continues to have a voice as the project develops.We hope to be able to visit Wick again soon, and to see the changes once they are in place.Thank you for being a part of this project and for embodying your town slogan – Wick really does work well! Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1608628547/projects/wickstreetdesign/fae30803-036f-4a12-8c4d-d69651acc34e.jpg" />

Final concept designs just in time for Christmas!

The Wick Street Design team would like to extend our thanks once again to all those who took part in the various consultation and engagement activities we&#39;ve held during the Design Stage of the project. We have been combing through your feedback and pulling out the key themes among the comments. The map below shows the common themes for each of the design areas/areas where recommendations have been made. You can also download the &#39;Design Stage&#39; map <a href="https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/commonplace-customer-assets/wickstreetdesign/Design%20Stage%20Feedback%20Map_p6.pdf">here</a> .<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1601916373/projects/wickstreetdesign/04a33f61-72fa-4556-8d13-47180ec571e4.png" />Overall, the proposals and recommendations were positively received, with 69% of responses being positive. People feel the designs &quot;brighten up&quot; the area by adding greenery and artwork, as well as creative lighting solutions. Improved pedestrian safety is strongly welcomed, particularly through traffic calming measures, restricted parking, wider pavements on Bridge Street and safer crossings with raised tables. The lanes and the gateways were the most positively viewed proposals and recommendations, largely due to restricting vehicle access, the potential for creating links to Wick&#39;s heritage and signposting to local attractions and facilities with a town map.There were also some key themes denoting concerns or questions that Wickers have about a few aspects of the draft designs:<li>Space for events - people are concerned that having trees in the square and a narrowed vehicle path will reduce the space available for the Pipe Band processions and other large-scale community events</li> <li>Trees might damage paving and leaf fall could pose a hazard in wet conditions</li> <li>Space for larger vehicles - concerns are raised about whether or not larger vehicles will be able to navigate the Bridge Street junction</li> <li>Maintenance of street furniture and planters</li> <li>Risk of vandalism</li> <li>Confusion regarding the number of blue badge bays available</li> <li>Number and location of loading bays for local businesses</li> <li>Replacement of Caithness stone paving, a key heritage feature of the area</li> <li>Need for more sheltered areas</li> <li>How the bollards will operate, particularly for disabled access and taxis often carrying disable passengers</li> <li>Need to include other lanes in recommendations to create stronger links to car parks and encourage &#39;Park and Stride&#39;</li>The map below shows the changes we are considering in response these themes:<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1601918034/projects/wickstreetdesign/d9ba39d1-5c0b-4cd2-b35c-9d2834844ae4.png" />You can also download the &#39;Addressing Feedback&#39; map <a href="https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/commonplace-customer-assets/wickstreetdesign/Design%20Stage%20Addressing%20Feedback%20Map_p7.pdf">here.</a> Next StepsIn this final stage of the project, we will be reviewing these changes internally within Sustrans and with the project partners. Once the designs have been reviewed and final changes confirmed, the final concept design will be shared with the community here on our website towards the end of November.

Responding to your feedback

The Explore the Design stage of the project, where we shared draft designs for High Street and Market Square and gathered feedback on them ran between 24th of August and 14th of September. During this time we have received over 400 responses!Our website is now closed for comments, but you can still see everyone&#39;s contributions and the design proposals here: https://wickstreetdesign.commonplace.is/overview Explore the Design activitiesThese are all the activities we have conducted to make sure we reached as many people as possible<li>We uploaded the designs to our website for people to be able to comment online. There were 859 visitors on the website and 207 responses about the design. </li> <li>For those with limited access to technology, paper surveys with enclosed Freepost envelopes were also available at key locations throughout the town. So far we received 48 surveys with 233 responses about the design. If you or anyone you know haven’t posted the survey yet, please do so as soon as possible. </li><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1600253670/projects/wickstreetdesign/58bc34ea-85f0-4fd8-a67c-c0bc3e2496e1.jpg" /><li>With help of Councillor Nicola Sinclair, we’ve also reached out to business owners in the project area directly with a survey and a brochure outlining the proposals. </li> <li>The proposals were on display in the town centre and we created virtual flythrough videos available to view on the project website.</li> <li>In lieu of our usual face-to-face events, the project team hosted a webinar on 9th September that was open to all residents and business owners. This gave people the chance to engage directly with the team, ask questions, and share their views. You can watch the webinar here: https://wickstreetdesign.commonplace.is/news/11/09/2020/exploringthedesigns </li><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/commonplace-digital-limited/image/upload/v1600254052/projects/wickstreetdesign/1e332c38-0b68-40d6-98fd-a6b7b05531d7.jpg" />Local coverage We’ve been fortunate to have extensive local coverage of the Wick Street Design project, from local newspapers to radio and TV including Tremaine Biham’s, our Community Engagement Officer interview on BBC Alba. Not only has the coverage been positive, but so has the public’s response to the design proposals. Thank you for your comments We would like to thank everyone who shared their feedback on the draft designs with us either by joining our activities or filling out surveys in paper form or online. Your comments are very valuable to the project and will help us develop a concept design over the coming months.What&#39;s next?The project team is now in the process of reviewing all responses to see what changes to the design proposals we need to make according to the new comments we have gathered. Once we have analysed all your comments we will upload a blog post with an overview of the results. We will present the updated designs at the start of November on our website. Keep an eye out on this page to stay updated!

The Explore the Design stage is closed. Here’s how it went.

We need your feedback to help us develop these designs further. Please take a look through this website to view and feedback on the designs.