Plans are being put forward to Ipswich Borough Council’s Central Area Committee this week for new funding for alley gates in the centre of the town
Alley gates limit access to areas between homes to residents only. It is thought that this reduced access helps to limit the opportunities for certain types of criminality in these areas.
The proposed plans would see a £6000 pot of funding be provided to fulfil requests for new alley gates to be installed in the centre of the town.
“One thing we get a lot of calls about as a councillor is fly tipping and anti-social behaviour,” said Adam Leeder, councillor for the Alexandra Ward of Ipswich which hopes to benefit from the new fund.
“It’s an ongoing problem.”
Cllr Leeder believes that successes of alley gates in other parts of town have proven the projects’ worth and that in the end they would be “more cost effective” as the council wouldn’t have to pick up the bill for fly tipping.
Alley gates have previously been installed on Surrey Road, where residents had been victims of continued anti-social behaviour.
This latest proposal would affect three wards in the town: Alexandra, St Margaret’s and Westgate.
Of these, the proposals note the alleyway from Wellesley Road to Tennyson Road as having been highlighted as a particular area of concern.
The report suggests that councillors have been made aware that the area is currently subject to drug abuse, street drinking, rough sleeping and bonfires.
There have also been incidents of fly tipping reported to the council.
Funding had previously been decided on centrally by Ipswich Borough Council but this was moved to the responsibility of ward councillors and area committees.
The gates cost up to £2000 each, dependent on their construction type.
Cllr Leeder says the central pot of funding that they hope to create with these plans would “give us discretion to act more quickly.”
All proposed alley gates would still be considered on a case by case basis with residents and landowners agreeing to the installation, the maintenance and access arrangements.
The committee will consider the plans on Thursday night.
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