Council leader defends city street regeneration

Mark Fryer says wider pavements and street furniture allows more trading

A council leader has defended a £2m shopping street regeneration following criticism of the project on social media.

Devonshire Street in Carlisle closed for five months as part of work which included the installation of new outdoor seating, cycle parking, trees and plants.

But the project has been met with some criticism online, with one person labelling it "nonsense".

Labour's Mark Fryer, leader of Cumberland Council, said: "It's absolutely essential that you make the place better, smarter, cleaner."

A free celebration event was held on the street on Saturday, ahead of its official reopening on Monday.

One social media user wrote: "£2m spent on a few flower beds and benches, for that money I was expecting it paved in gold."

Another added it was a "shoddy street like all the main roads in Carlisle", which needed "some resurfacing, not pedestrian zone nonsense".

The road was closed for five months to allow work to take place

Mr Fryer said the street had been "transformed" and that regeneration meant "people making a living, people getting jobs, and people spending money in their own city".

Speaking ahead of the opening of the street, he added the council could "pave the street in gold and people would argue about what carat it would be".

"It’s about positivity and anybody who wants to go on Facebook and slag it off, get on there and do it. In the meantime, people will be enjoying themselves in Carlisle," Mr Fryer said.

There was some defence of the project on social media, with one user adding: "The city is actually trying to make the place look more appealing, which might in turn attract more businesses to set up shop there."

The project is part of a wider regeneration of the city, which includes the Carlisle Southern Gateway Project in English Street, expected to be completed by next spring.