Council's temporary fence finally taken down after 14 years
A "temporary" fence costing a council £75 a week is finally coming down... 14 years after it was erected.
Medway Council has splashed out £50,000 on the hoardings to protect a footpath since the retaining wall was deemed a “serious health and safety risk” in 2009.
In the 14 years since it was put up in Gillingham, Kent, there have been several plans to make the wall safe and remove the fencing, but none came to fruition.
As the wall is backed onto by a row of private lock-up garages, there had been trouble reaching an agreement with the company which owns the garages.
However, work finally began this week to replace two sections of the wall, beginning with the removal of vegetation and demolition of several garages.
Yet the saga isn't quite over: the project is expected to last 23 weeks, meaning it will only be done around Christmas.
Walkers dubbed the fence an “eyesore”, with weathering, graffiti and overgrown vegetation appearing over the years.
A document submitted by the council also said the hoardings were unsafe.
Read more: Residents leave ‘use your own street’ notes on cars in parking space row
Former Labour councillor Andy Stamp said: "It's a road safety issue for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians: if drivers are turning out the bottom of Camden Road onto the dual carriageway, the hoardings restrict visibility for people turning out, and if you're a cyclist you have the same issue.
"Also for pedestrians, because the hoardings are there, the footpath along that stretch of Pier Road is really narrow."
In November, then Cllr Stamp had also posed a question to Medway over how much money it had spent on the fencing.
Conservative Cllr Gary Hackwell, who was the portfolio holder for business management, revealed the council had spent £75 per week renting the hoardings. Since then, they would have cost another £2,000 of taxpayer money.
