Gates costing £80k 'turn area into ghost town'

The black bi-folding gates replaced bollards on Eastgate Street

Concerns have been raised over £80,000 gates installed in a town which may be turning the area into a "ghost town", a councillor said.

The black bi-folding gates were installed earlier this year to replace bollards on Eastgate Street, Gloucester, which stop traffic between 22.30 to 05.00 every weekend and bank holidays.

Gloucester City Council member Sajid Patel said at a council meeting on Thursday there was now no traffic or people in the area at night and "all that money we invested in these gates, it's terrible".

Council leader Jeremy Hilton said the authority would explore how to change the ambiance of Eastgate Street and make the night-time economy there "more vibrant".

One critic said the gates had left the area with "no traffic, no people"

It was agreed the gates, which include the city's coat of arms, were a more cost-effective and reliable solution for the bollards' replacement, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But Patel (Conservative, Barton and Tredworth) said he believed the gates were hurting businesses there.

"I went for a walk about two weeks ago on a Friday evening about 23.15 [and] Eastgate Street was a ghost town.

"Since the old Liquid nightclub has closed, it is deserted. No traffic, no people.

"It's like a pedestrian zone where we pedestrianise the city centre to make it safer for pedestrians and, actually, we kill the city centres."

Funding for the project, including design, manufacture, groundworks and installation, included £20,000 from Gloucestershire County Council, £20,000 from the Safer High Street Fund and £10,000 from a community safety fund.

Some £16,000 was also given by the Gloucester Business Improvement District, the city council and other contributors.

Council leader Hilton (Liberal Democrat, Kingsholm and Wotton) said he did not think the gates had any influence over the nightclub closing and it seemed logical that another club might reopen in the same place.

He added they are committed to looking into that area of the town, although it "will take time to go through all of that".