Gloucestershire County Council plans to rip up the flagstones on Cheltenham’s historic Promenade and replace them with tarmac.
Andrew Booton, Chair of Cheltenham Civic Society (CCS), said: “It’s amazing that GCC can make fast decisions when they want to. We’ve been pressing them for five years to address the town centre’s appalling paving but all of a sudden they decide to act – and not in a good way.
“The Prom is probably the most important street in Cheltenham. It forms part of the Central Conservation Area, hosts numerous listed buildings and is the town’s social and emotional barometer. When the Prom looks sad with empty shops, the rest of the town feels it.
“Now, not only do we risk having Cavendish House and the municipal offices falling empty or undeveloped simultaneously, the street is going to be ripped up and tarmacked.
“We supported coated tarmac on the Strand and Cambray Place because it was the only option to replace hideous, unsafe surfaces that were pockmarked with tarmac cowpats and broken paviors. Let’s not forget, the roads were in that state because GCC had neglected them and because CBC – the guardian of our public realm – took little interest in pushing GCC to address their terrible state.
“Now, without any consultation, we’ve just found out that GCC has decided to rip up the York stone. They pretend it’s because it’s the most cost-effective option. But the reality is that GCC has not maintained the Prom properly. Their badly-installed reinstatements keep failing due to poor workmanship by Ringway, GCC’s main highways contractor. That wastes expensive materials so, oddly enough, they now say they have run out of money.
“But every time GCC’s fingerprints touch our historic fabric, a little bit more of the town’s heritage is compromised or disappears altogether. We cannot trust them to do what is right. They just do what is easiest for the officers and what is cheapest – and we mean cheap, not inexpensive!
“No other comparable town or city has to put up with this nonsense. Does Bath rip up flagstones and replace them with tarmac? Does Oxford infill its beautiful streets with tarmac cowpats?
“No, they respect and protect their heritage and do what is right by budgeting properly, planning properly, safeguarding heritage properly, and behaving as responsible custodians of public assets.
“Even Cirencester’s town centre streets are beautifully paved in stone. In Cheltenham, we constantly have to fight against mediocrity, laziness and apathy. Is it any wonder our town looks down at heel?”
Cheltenham Civic Society learned of this plan through a set of minutes of a meeting held on Tuesday 4th March. CCS had been invited to the meeting at very short notice and was told that only one person could attend. In the event, because of the short notice, none of our trustees could attend and the meeting went ahead without us.
In an attempt to keep the proposals under wraps, GCC added a confidentiality clause at the end of the minutes. But CCS believes that the public interest in this highly significant threat to our heritage and the town’s Central Conservation Area far outweighs any secrecy that council officers would like to have while they gear up their spin doctors.
Cheltenham Civic Society views this as a major issue and we will mount a determined campaign against it over the few short weeks we have before GCC tries to go ahead with ripping up the flagstones in early May.
