A VALE councillor will host a public meeting on a traffic proposal affecting Barry’s most famous street.

Butrills ward councillor, Ian Johnson said residents’ views on plans to introduce a one-way traffic system trial to Trinity Street, a location for award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey, had not been properly sought.

He said the meeting would give local residents a voice on the matter when it takes place at the Margaret Alexander community centre, Alexandra Gardens, at 4pm on Sunday, February 22.

The proposals will make the street one-way going northwards from the junction with Porthkerry Road and Montgomery Road towards Jenner Road, and one-way southwards to Broad Street.

Councillor Ian Johnson said a previous consultation on the street in 2011 had seen mixed responses from residents on Trinity Street and surrounding roads, but the experimental plans were being introduced without prior consultation – the six month trial period being legally considered the consultation.

He said: “This may be an experiment, and it may be withdrawn after six months, but it is quite a drastic change in the traffic flows around a busy street, so I feel that residents should be able to have their say about how it might affect them.

“Residents on Trinity Street have quite justifiable complaints about the street being used as a rat-run between the top and bottom of town, with limited space for the amount of traffic, leading to wing mirrors being knocked off and cars scratched.

“If this traffic is displaced onto surrounding small streets and forces hundreds of other local residents to take longer and more circuitous routes, then it may be creating more problems than it solves.

“Local residents are the experts here and I want to hear their views. If the experiment goes ahead then those views might help reduce some of the problems of a new one-way system so that it works, or if those views suggest that it really won’t work, then the council might have to think again about the scheme.”

Councillor Johnson has invited officers from the council transport department and other local councillors to listen to residents’ views.