Northern Beaches Council will not proceed with the proposed changes to traffic management measures at The Serpentine, Bilgola due to overwhelming opposition from the community.

The proposed changes under the Streets as Shared Spaces program aimed to create pedestrian-friendly shared spaces with reduced speed limits and traffic-calming measures.

“The community has spoken and their feedback was clear,” Mayor Michael Regan said.

“Council received nearly 400 submissions on this proposal and met residents on site and only 15 per cent of responders were supportive of the suggested changes.

“The proposed reduction in the speed limit to 10km/hr was of particular concern with residents saying it would increase travel time and not solve the problem it was intended to fix.

“While there was some positive feedback and suggestions for the future, given the levels of angst in the community the best course of action is to shelve it for now.

“I’d like to thank everyone who made a submission or spoke to our staff or Councillors. We put projects out for exhibition so we can hear from and respond to the community and that’s exactly what has happened here.

“We’ll continue our consultation mid next year to see if there is a solution that might have a better outcome than what was proposed, including on some of the well-supported aspects of the plan.”

Cr Regan said there was support for improved connections around other town centres and the Bilgola shared zone connecting into the Northern Beaches Coast Walk which was exhibited at the same time as The Serpentine proposal.

He said Council was still considering community feedback on the Manly component of the Streets as Shared Spaces program.