. . . as council pays ‘gatekeeper’ in a van to monitor road barely a single cyclist uses
COUNCIL chiefs who closed off a shopping street to traffic are now employing a gatekeeper – on what is thought to be £200 per day – to allow lorries and vans in.
In order to create a cycle lane, bollards were placed in the middle of the road last August to stop vehicles entering, even though delivery drivers still needed to get in to access dozens of shops.
Now a gatekeeper has been hired to move the bollards for deliveries to Baker Street, in Weybridge town centre, Surrey. He sits in a van near the shops, sometimes appearing to be dozing off.
When The Mail on Sunday monitored the road last Monday, we did not see the gatekeeper letting in or out any vans or lorries, and observed only two cyclists using the road in more than five hours.
The cost of the bike lane and the wage for the gatekeeper has come from the £250 million Emergency Active Travel Fund, set up by the Department for Transport to fund pop-up cycle lanes.
A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: ‘We have closed a narrow section of Baker Street for social distancing purposes to protect pedestrians and people on bikes. To support traders, a gatekeeper is in place to open the road when deliveries are made. This is a temporary scheme.’
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said: ‘They should not be spending taxpayers’ money on this at all.’