I have noted from the markings painted on the now closed road, that the road narrowing is minimal, enough to do away with the central refuge, which should never of course be used as a crossing as such. So losing this is technically not losing a crossing point. But narrowing the road should make the time a pedestrian spends off the footpath shorted, thus safer (in theory)
Other than that, there are few physical changes to the usable footpath for the roadway, so I dont think there is too much to worry about. The same can be said for the planting of the trees too. Whilst I agree the footpath on the subway side is rather narrow already, and could indeed do with a little widening. I shall mail Mick Hepworth and see if he has any more info on this plan.