Alnwick parking spaces reinstated

Fencing which had blocked off three parking spaces along Fenkle Street has been removed following the intervention of local councillor Gordon Castle.

He became aware of Facebook conversations asking why it was there.

“Like most people, I too assumed it was authorised by Northumberland County Council for safety reasons, as I knew a car had been damaged by falling tiles last year,” he said,

“However, a Facebook comment questioned the safety case when the pavement was still open to pedestrians, a good point that I followed up on.”

Coun Castle, Conservative member for Alnwick on Northumberland County Council, explained: “It turns out that the council did not authorise the fencing. It was put there by a contractor at the building owner’s request to protect himself from being claimed against whilst there appeared to be a problem with roof tiles.”

He added: “Although there appear to have been exchanges of correspondence, I cannot establish exactly why it was not removed earlier, and it would seem there is no safety case for it remaining, so it is gone.

“We have enough pressure on parking in town without taking bays out of use unless there is an unavoidable reason.”

Parking on Fenkle Street is free with a disc but is restricted to a maximum stay of two hours.