Council excited by levelling up fund bid derided as being “drawn up by strangers”
Council chiefs have fended off criticism of a levelling up fund bid for Guisborough after it was described as being “drawn up by strangers” and a flawed attempt at “café culture”.
Redcar and Cleveland Council hopes to spend more than £15m on Guisborough should a bid submitted for the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland area achieve success.
It is part of a £20m bid submitted in round two of the Government competition, which also includes funds for highway improvements intended to unlock delivery of about 800 new homes in Coulby Newham and the drawing up of a business case for a new transport hub in Nunthorpe.
The council said it was excited by the bid which would have a “huge positive impact” on Guisborough and the surrounding area.
It includes
Public realm works on Westgate, Bakehouse Square and Chaloner Street, including the realignment of car parking areas, provision of outdoor retail space, street furniture, signage, tree planting and CCTV Environmental improvements to Chapel Beck to create an attractive recreation space to act as a focus for visitors to Guisborough King George V Playing Field public realm and landscaping improvement works and replacement of play equipment along with the delivery of a new skate park A town centre commercial grant scheme to attract and assist private businesses with shopfront and commercial property improvement works Provision of a new sustainable active travel route for cycling and walking from Guisborough to Nunthorpe, via the Guisborough Forest and Woodland Walkway Visitor Centre with connections to existing and proposed cycle routes for onward travel to East Cleveland, central Teesside and North Yorkshire including the North York Moors National Park Improvements to Guisborough Forest and Walkway Visitor Centre including sustainability enhancements and improved access and parking arrangements. Guisborough councillors Anne Watts and Bill Clarke, both independents, have highlighted concerns about a loss of car parking spaces in the town and say there has been insufficient involvement from locals.
Cllr Watts said the bid had been “drawn up by strangers” and did not reflect the identity of the town, or its value as a conservation area with little input from ward councillors or local people.
She said: “It’s one of these typical bids put in by suited men and women in an office in Redcar, who don’t understand the feelings in Guisborough.
“They referred to Chaloner Street as the link between Fountains Street car park and Westgate – Chaloner Street is the heart and soul of Guisborough, I would like Westgate to be half as good as that.
“They are giving us better CCTV and a few more trees, that’s good, and they’d like a mural on a wall somewhere to brighten it up along with the shop frontages so more people will come in.
“But the main expenditure is going to be on more of a café culture set-up so they are going to level off and widen some of the pavements near the library, that end of town, along with a step-down to the cobbles.
“That will reduce parking spaces and the step-down could be dangerous.
“Also, who wants to sit on wet, sloping cobbles by a main road ? You can’t put chair legs on cobbles.
“It would result in the centre of Guisborough looking like many other modernised streets and take the heart out of Guisborough as we know it.
“Café culture is great when it works and there also has to be other things to draw people into Guisborough in order to take advantage of it.”
Cllr Clarke, who previously criticised insufficient consultation with members over the bid, said: “If you are going to remove about 15 parking spaces on the high street and if we lose the car park spaces at Belmont House, you are removing a lot of car parking spaces.
“The response from council officers has been that it is a negligible loss, which is a load of rubbish.
“A lot of what the council do is flawed, I just keep on trying to put my logic across and say ‘I don’t agree with what you are doing.’”
Cllr Clarke said he wanted a pedestrian walkway over the A171 Guisborough bypass to provide a safe crossing to the cemetery in Church Lane to be included in the bid, but had been told it would weaken the bid.
He said: “I don’t know how that works, but I have to take the word of officers and consultants and trust them.”
Cllr Clarke said the council “failed miserably” with its previous levelling-up fund bid and questioned how high a priority the area was for investment by the Government especially in a changing political landscape.
He added: “I’m not a cynic, but I don’t trust politicians one minute.”
A spokesman for the council said: “We are excited about our ‘levelling up’ bid for more than £15 million of Government funding which would have a huge positive impact for Guisborough.
“The bid was put together following various consultations, including those with ward councillors, and has taken into account studies and reports which were not only informed by experts but the local community, including community groups and the town council.
“If successful, there will be developments to improve Westgate including improving parking bays by making them much more clearly defined and reducing up to 30% of parking space currently lost through inconsiderate car parking by users.
“More outdoor areas for cafés and events would be created and, while this would involve the removal of some cobbles in limited areas to aid accessibility and the loss of around ten parking bays, it would create more seating and green spaces to improve the look and feel of the town.
“Furthermore we have recently refurbished the car park on Fountains Street, complete with a new toilet block and coach drop off points.
“If the bid is successful the council would continue with further, more detailed consultations including with ward councillors, businesses, community groups and residents.”