Council accepts criticism of Guisborough cobbles restoration

Bakehouse Square, in Guisborough, was temporarily opened up to allow access for local businesses operating in the vicinity, leading to a slew of negative comments on social media about its appearance.

Cobbles which had been re-sized and relaid were described as “floating in concrete” with both Redcar and Cleveland Council and contractor, civil engineers Seymour at pains to stress the scheme was not yet complete.

At a meeting of the council’s growth scrutiny committee, assistant director of growth and enterprise Andrew Carter said it was accepted the quality of the cobbles were “not good enough” and there were “lessons to be learned”.

Some £15m was previously allocated to Guisborough from a Government Levelling Up award for various improvement schemes, including Bakehouse Square, behind the Town Hall, in order to create a “high quality public space”.

Next in line to benefit from the funding is a far wider-ranging revamp of Westgate and Chaloner Street, for which a planning application was recently submitted, but which has now been withdrawn for consideration next week by the council’s regulatory committee.

A council spokeswoman said cabinet members Councillor Lynn Pallister and Councillor Carl Quartermain had met with local ward councillors and a representative of the town council to discuss the current proposals.

These include adding new natural stone paving flags to pavements which will be widened, new benches, cycle stands, signage and artwork.

A dedicated space will be created at the Market Cross in the Market Place with the aim of reintroducing a market at this location with dropped kerbs and electrical plug-in power being provided for market holders.

New lighting will also be installed around the junction of Chaloner Street with Chaloner Mews.

The spokeswoman said: “The main concerns raised are loss of cobbles, loss of parking and any intervention which dilutes the historic character of Westgate. 

“Responding to this, some changes have been agreed that will address many of these concerns.”

It had been agreed that any further replacement and removal of historic cobbles would be limited unless absolutely necessary, such as for pavement widening or to accommodate disabled parking.

Meanwhile, a planned new pedestrian crossing outside the approach to the Morrisons supermarket has been removed, along with formal lines intended to mark out parking bays on Westgate.

The council said design teams had been instructed to update the proposals with what remained set to “deliver a range of enhancements within the town centre that will help to revitalise the area, improving people’s experience, driving growth, promoting Guisborough as a market town and ensuring future sustainability”.

Former Guisborough councillor Anne Watts previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the plans before their revision would see the “destruction” of the town centre and were an attempt at a “New York look-alike”.

She said: “Guisborough is a historic town with cobbles and residents and visitors love it as it is, but we just wanted some improvements, not bulldozers letting loose.”

Work on the next phase could start early next year once a contractor has been procured by the local authority and planning permission granted.

‘Not good enough’

Mr Carter said: “The work that took place on Bakehouse Square mainly to do with replacing the cobbles was not good enough.

“We accept that and have met with the contractor Seymour who accepted it was not good enough either and they are going to go back in and replace those cobbles to a professional standard at no cost to us.”

Mr Carter said cobbles were “dynamic” and it was impossible to get a uniform finish.

He also said: “From their point of view they [the contractor] want to get done as fast as they can because they have already gone over the contract length so it is potentially costing them money.

“There are lessons to be learnt, no doubt about that.”

Louise Anderson, the council’s head of place development and investment, said: “In terms of Bakehouse Square, there is outstanding work and the site has not been returned to the council – we have not reached practical completion.

“The cobbled lane down to Chapel Beck isn’t acceptable – there is no other way to say that.”

She added: “We have used Seymour before, they are a quality provider.

“We have been happy with their work elsewhere, at Beach Base (Redcar), Coronation Park (Loftus), the play [area] and [crazy] golf on the seafront, all properly tendered.”

Belmont ward councillor Peter Berry said: “We have to make sure every phase is finished to a satisfactory standard before it is signed off.

“Otherwise Facebook will explode.”

He added:  “There are certain people on Facebook who are determined to be negative about this, but I think we have done as much as we can to alleviate the problems and doubts people have.”

Councillor Ceri Cawley, another member of the growth scrutiny committee, said the contractor had been at fault, “but at the minute it is the council getting the blame and its reputation damaged”.