Safety chief hits back at claims that York anti-terror bollards are 'pointless'

Janet Mowat, City of York Council’s head of community safety, said there was no intelligence indicating the city specifically is under imminent threat, but that failing to put in permanent security measures would leave York at risk of a hostile vehicle attack.

The measures, a mixture of fixed and sliding bollards, are controversial because blue badge holders are banned from parking in the footstreets area which the bollards are designed to protect.

Disability campaigners and York Labour have this week criticised the council’s approach after an email from North Yorkshire Police suggested the measures were not based on a local risk assessment.

Flick Williams of York Accessibility Action told the council’s housing and community safety policy and scrutiny committee on Tuesday: “Since deciding to close the footstreets to blue badge holders the administration has hidden behind ‘the police told us to do it’.

“No they didn’t. They told you to do a city-wide risk assessment. We have consulted a counter terror expert of our own.

“Tom Parker, author of ‘Avoiding the Terrorist Trap’ told us this: Defensive operations are a pointless waste of money – because the threat cascades.

“Terrorists will always find the weak link in your armour and shift focus accordingly. So all you do is move the risk geographically.”

York Labour has said they have seen “no evidence that City of York Council risk assessed the threat of a terrorist attack to the area from which blue badge holders have been banned.”

But Ms Mowat said a local risk assessment had taken place in 2017 after a spate of hostile vehicle attacks in Europe and that it had been “under review and monitored and managed in line with the national threat level.”

She added: “We have taken the advice not only of the counterterrorism north-east unit, but also the national security expert from the centre for protection of public infrastructure down in London – he visited twice.

“We’ve undertaken a full risk assessment of the city and it’s on their advice that plans have been drawn up for the permanent measures which are being put in place.”

The visible measures were just one part of the picture, Ms Mowat said, with more detail having to be kept secret due to its sensitive nature.

She added: “Other cities around us have put permanent measures in place and when that happens, it leaves us more vulnerable because if you are a hostile [terrorist] looking for somewhere to carry out a terrorist attack, you’re going to look at the area that’s got the least visual protection.

“Nobody is able to predict precisely when, where or how an attack, or by who, will take place. 

“However, we know because of the national threat level being ‘substantial’ that an attack is likely. We know that we are a city that has a higher footfall, so we know that we are vulnerable to an attack.”

Labour has pledged to reverse the council’s blue badge decision.

Group leader Pete Kilbane said: “We’re confident there’s a way to address the terror threat while maintaining access, where the will exists”.