Blake Street and High Ousegate, York, face bollard closures

Blake Street will close to all traffic, while pavements will alternately close on each side of the street in two phases. Access to businesses and properties will remain open, says City of York Council.

Meanwhile, the junction of Parliament Street and High Ousegate will also close to traffic as sliding bollards are installed alongside the fixed bollards already in place.

An earlier part of the scheme, when bollards were installed in Colliergate, at its junction with St Saviourgate, sparked anger among traders who claimed it was 'killing' business.

And one trader in Blake Street told The Press yesterday (Wednesday, December 13) that the street had fantastic businesses and he hoped the latest work wouldn't affect them.

The council said the final stages of the bollard work would start on January 8.

Alternative access for vehicles to Blake Street will be via Goodramgate and Spurriergate, or High Petergate.

Access to footways will be largely unaffected, the councils says.

Temporary bollards in Blake Street (Image: Harry Booth)

Cllr Peter Kilbane, executive member for transport and business at City of York Council, said: “Following the pause during the busy festive season, this final stretch of work will include installing the final set of bollards and connecting them to power and CCTV.

"I’d like to apologise for any disruption this may cause, and urge businesses to raise any areas of concern as early as possible with the contractor’s public liaison officer and the council.

“This work completes the installation of the hostile vehicle measures which, together with other measures will protect all who live, work and visit the city centre and permanently remove the need for the temporary barriers that have been in use in recent years.”

The council says staff will be on-site during the peak morning delivery period to help with access for deliveries.

It added that the contractor’s public liaison officer is visiting all businesses to discuss their access needs and will follow this up with further contact the week before work starts. 

Andrew Hannan, owner of Clarkson's Menswear (Image: Harry Booth)

Clarkson's Menswear has branches in Blake Street and High Petergate.

High Petergate faced disruption when bollards were installed earlier this year.

Clarkson's owner Andrew Hannan said: "It affected us disastrously, we were down 40 per cent.

"It wasn't very clever, we didn't get any warning.

"Our only saving grace is that they didn't shut every street at once."

Clarkson's Menswear in Blake Street (Image: Harry Booth)

This time around, Andrew said he had been notified a week in advance of the announcement. However, two other traders in Blake Street, who did not wish to be named, said they were not aware of the news.

Andrew added: "There's some fantastic traders on this street so I hope it doesn't affect them."