On 6 and 7 July 2016 seven experts critically reviewed the mobility policy and SUMP of the City of Roermond. The expert team combined both experts on mobility and urban retail coming from Portugal, Sweden, UK and the Netherlands.
Roermond's mobility situation is special because retail-related traffic has a huge impact on the mobility situation of the City. The Designer Outlet Centre – which is linked to the Inner City – attracts 6 million visitors per year. As a result of this, the road network is busier in weekends than during workday peak hours.
During the Peer Review the experts made a tour through the city and Designer Outlet Centre, they received background information and talked to residents and entrepreneurs. The expert then advised the Municipality on possible improvements and good practices Roermond might be interested to import.
Peer Review
The Peer Review is the first step in the Interregional cooperation program of RESOLVE. Its goal is to assess strengths and weaknesses of partners’ mobility plans and policies. Expert Teams assess partners’ intentions with regard to retail related traffic, and help them to identify what good practices they should seek out. Each partner will undertake a Peer Review in the first two semesters. Roermond was the first partner to undertake a Peer Review process.
The advice
The expert team presented its advice to the members of the City Board and City Council:
- Make sure to have a strong vision on what type of city you want to be.
-
Make sure to gather enough critical data.
- Consider ‘soft measures’ as an important solution to your mobility issues.
This critical advice will be very useful to improve the SUMP Roermond is currently realising.
