What £6.5m has done to the way people move around Penzance

Some of the people who approved Penzance’s biggest travel shake-up spent this week doing something fitting: they left their cars behind and rode into town on e-bikes.

Two years ago, members of the Penzance Town Deal Board approved an ambitious plan to reduce the impact of vehicles in the town and hand more space and priority to people walking, cycling and wheeling. The Penzance Sustainable Travel Network project has now redesigned key parts of the town centre through a series of individual schemes, and this week the board declared the work substantially complete.

The project received £3.5 million from the government’s Town Deal programme and £3 million from Cornwall Council.

A tour of the finished schemes

With the schemes largely done, members of the Penzance Town Deal Board and Penzance Town Council joined the Sustainable Travel Town Deal Project team, local councillors and officers from Cornwall Council, Cormac, Network Rail and GWR for a tour of four of them: Ponsandane Park & Cycle, Penzance bus station and Branwells Gyratory, Market Jew Street and Market Place, and Causewayhead.

The visit gave the partners a chance to talk to some of the residents and businesses already using the improvements. It also produced the sight of several members swapping their cars for e-bikes to travel from Ponsandane to the bus station, which was rather the point of the whole exercise.

“It is great to see the completion of the schemes,” said Martin Tucker, Chair of Penzance Town Deal Board. “The aim of the Sustainable Travel project was to make Penzance more accessible and enable people to feel safe as they are moving around. I am delighted with what has been achieved so far and look forward to seeing the final elements at Coinagehall Street and Battery Road completed.”

Martin added: “This has been a complex project with several different schemes and a number of different partners. While there have certainly been some challenges on the way, I am very proud of the way in which everyone has worked together to deliver our ambition to open up the town and provide greener and more welcoming streets where people can walk around freely and enjoy everything that Penzance has to offer.”

Kieren Couch, the project lead, pointed to the partnership behind the work. “As Project Lead, I have seen first-hand the value of strong partnership working in bringing this programme forward,” he said. “The schemes have required close coordination between the Town Deal Board, Cornwall Council, delivery partners, local members, businesses and the community, all working towards a shared vision for a more connected, accessible and sustainable Penzance. The real value of the investment is reflected in the outcomes now being delivered, safer and more attractive routes, improved links between different forms of transport, better public spaces and a town centre that supports residents, visitors and local businesses.”

Where it started: Newlyn Green

The first scheme to finish improved access to Newlyn Green across New Road, a busy commuter and tourist route between Penzance and Newlyn. Completed by Cormac in March 2025, it added two signalised puffin crossings, one at Bowling Green and one at Newlyn Green, along with new steps and ramps at the entrance to the park. A new vehicle activated 20 mph sign went in to help bring vehicle speeds down. The crossings were built with wheelchairs and prams in mind as much as anyone on foot.

Causewayhead

Work at Causewayhead ran from January to the middle of July 2025. The area had a reputation as an unwelcoming way into the town for anyone arriving from the north, with rat running and heavy vehicle use. The scheme, amended after consultation with the local community, reworks it for walking and cycling and complements the new Pixel building.

New granite and tactile paving went into the footways, the carriageway was fully resurfaced and remarked, and pedestrian areas gained decorative landscaping and street furniture such as benches and bicycle stands.

Market Jew Street and Market Place

Work here began in July 2025 and was completed in March 2026, running longer than planned after extra improvements were folded in. The aim was to reduce the dominance of vehicles and make the area safer and more pleasant on foot or by bike.

On Market Jew Street, the changes reinforced the existing pedestrian zone, created a clearer gateway and improved conditions for people arriving on foot or by public transport. The streetscape and soft landscaping were enhanced to support the character of the area and draw more people into the centre.

The bus station and Branwells Gyratory

This scheme sits within Cornwall’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, led by Cornwall Council with bus operators, which aims to make bus services more reliable, affordable and joined up. The investment around the bus station improves connections between bus and rail, encourages more people onto public transport and creates a safer, more accessible space for pedestrians and passengers.

It also brings a new subscription-based cycle parking hub to a prominent spot in Harbour Car Park, giving residents secure cycle parking whether they are heading into town or carrying on by public transport.

Ponsandane Park & Cycle

The most recently completed scheme is Ponsandane Park & Cycle, built to encourage drivers to leave the car and switch to something more sustainable. A new 62-space car park has gone in on the former railway sidings on the main approach into Penzance, where people can park and ride a bike along the coast path into the centre. Five of the spaces are marked for accessible parking.

Beryl, which runs the public bike hire in Cornwall, has dedicated provision at the site, and there are cycle stands for anyone who wants to leave a bike there. The footway along the A30 frontage was widened, street lighting adjusted, new tactile crossing points added and links made to the existing pelican crossing. Wide grassland areas run along the southern boundary and at both ends of the site, and a species-rich hedge with bird boxes has been planted along the northern boundary to the highway.

The land came free thanks to a separate railway investment. “The Ponsandane Park & Cycle scheme shows what’s possible when partners work together, delivering lasting change for communities, not just the railway,” said Bogdan Lupu, Industry Programme Director at Network Rail and GWR. “The Network Rail and GWR £6.5 million investment to relocate the sidings freed this land for sustainable travel while also allowing us to run longer trains in Cornwall, putting more capacity in front of passengers. We’re proud to have worked alongside Cornwall Council, the Penzance Town Deal Board and others to help this community prosper, and to deliver the kind of connected, greener journeys that matter for Cornwall’s future.”

Still to come: Coinagehall Street and Battery Road

The final piece is at Coinagehall Street and Battery Road, designed to link the South West Coast Path and Penzance railway station with the Promenade and the harbour. It complements nearby work including the Town Deal funded Penzance Harbour and Treveth development, known as PZ Gallery.

Now nearing completion, the works include a new zebra crossing for people reaching the harbour, more traffic calming, improved footways and changes to traffic circulation through new one-way streets.

Steve Worthington, from Cormac, thanked the town for its patience. “We are proud to have worked alongside Cornwall Council, the Penzance Town Deal Board, BID team, Town Council and other partners and stakeholders to deliver these important improvements across Penzance,” he said. “This has been a complex programme of work involving multiple sites in a busy town environment and we would like to thank residents, businesses and visitors for their patience throughout the works. The completed schemes have enhanced the experience of visiting the town and will help create safer, more accessible and better-connected routes for people walking, cycling and using public transport in and around Penzance.”

The Sustainable Travel Network is one part of a wider picture. Penzance Town Deal Board, working with Cornwall Council, secured a Town Deal worth £21.9 million for a range of regeneration projects across the town, with Cornwall Council acting as lead authority and administering the fund.