Minster Gates, next to York Minster, to close for anti-terror bollards

Minster Gates, next to York Minster, will close from September 25 to October 13.

City of York Council says that during the work pedestrian access to the street will be via Minster Yard and High Petergate.

Signage has now been installed in Minster Gates informing of the three-week closure.

Signage at the High Petergate end of Minstergates telling of the closure (Image: Dylan Connell)

The council previously issued a timeline for the work, which is being carried out as part of the Hostile Vehicle Mitigation scheme, first introduced by the former Liberal Democrat-Green administration to combat the threat of ‘vehicle as weapon attacks’.

After Minster Gates, work will see the measures installed in Colliergate and Blake Street.

Colliergate will close from October 9 to November 17 and Blake Street will close from October 16 to November 24.

Minstergates, which is set to close for three weeks (Image: Dylan Connell)

The council has said the streets will be open to pedestrians during the works and diversions will be put in place for vehicles.

Elsewhere in the city, work is nearing competition to install anti-terrorism bollards in Goodramgate. The council says the street will reopen on Friday, September 22.

Work is currently underway in Shambles to install the permanent protective measures.

The work has seen the entrance to the historic street from Pavement close to both pedestrians and vehicles.

York Minster above Minstergates (Image: Dylan Connell)

City of York Council faced criticism from traders when the work started, who said it would impact their takings.

At the time, the authority’s executive member for economy and transport, Cllr Pete Kilbane, apologised for the disruption and said the council aimed to improve accessibility to Shambles during the work and keep “people and businesses safe” in the long-term.

He said the measures send “a clear message to would-be terrorists and all in the city centre that we’re taking action” and “won’t put people or businesses at risk” and ensure that York “continues to be one of the UK’s safest cities”.

Work underway in Shambles (Image: Dylan Connell)

Neil Ferris, the council’s director of place, also apologised for the disruption and said the council had “worked hard” with the contractors to “maximise safe public access” and minimise the length of time the work will take.

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The council previously said work under the Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Scheme will take a break over the busy Christmas period.

They said work on installing the bollards at the Parliament Street/Pavement junction will then begin in the new year.

Shambles during the closure (Image: Simon Walton)

A council spokesperson added: “After these fixed and sliding bollards have been installed, further, less disruptive work will be needed to commission them.

“This will generally be done when the streets are closed to traffic and will have limited impact on pedestrian access and little to no impact on adjacent businesses.”