MP joins campaign to save Portland Square's cobbles
Last updated 12:44, Friday, 22 February 2008
PLANS are afoot to rip out 200-year-old cobblestones in Workington’s historic Portland Square.
The cobbles, in the middle of a conservation area, are said to be a danger to pedestrians.
Cumbria County Council, as the highways authority, wants to replace them with modern “safer” replicas.
But residents claim that the move could destroy the character of the square.
Workington MP Tony Cunningham, a resident of the Portland Square Conservation Area, said: “They would not be doing this in York or Bath, so they shouldn’t do it here.”
A county council spokesman said: “None of the existing cobbles meet current national highway standards in terms of skid-resistance and surface regularity.
“We are therefore consulting with the area’s immediate residents who will have to navigate and use the new surface on a regular basis.”
The square’s residents are wary of the council’s intentions, as the consultation process has not included Mr Cunningham, Workington and District Civic Trust, or the national Georgian Society.
The consensus view appears to be that existing cobbles should be lifted and re-laid so that they are level.
JMercia Haughan, vice president of the town’s civic society, said: “We will be consulting with the Georgian Society for their views.“The county tell us that the cobbles are a danger, but in 50 years I can’t think of any reports of people tripping and injuring themselves.
“The cobbles are the real character of the square, but clearly they are not popular with authority; any excavations for repairs to utilities have been repaired in a very messy way.
“Stone flags have been removed in the past and replaced with Tarmac, which is not acceptable.
“This is not just an issue for Portland Square, it’s an issue for the town, so why has the consultation been so restricted?
“The residents of the adjacent streets have not even been consulted.”
Mr Cunningham added: "A lot of people in Workington would be appalled if they took up all the cobbles and just replaced them. One of the options most definitely should be to leave the square as it is.”
Perhaps the Council could turn Portland Square into a ruin, as it did to Curwen Hall. Or, perhaps they could better spend the money on resurrecting the Covered Market, for eg. Monthly markets, (to start with).
View all comments on this article
Have your say
what the hell are the council playing at!? not only do they want to build a new tesco in the middle of the cloffix where it just so happens an historic game called uppies and downies is played every year. and a tell ya sumet, them council offices went up more or less over night on the cloffix with out informing residents or us uppies and downies players. but now they want to take away the cobbles in portland square. to me it looks like the councill are wanting to destroy the history of workington they will be wanting to knock curwen castle down next and build another £250,000 clock that looks like it cost £2.50 to build
Posted by Keiran Yarnold on 30 March 2008 kl. 17:08