A request to move a rising bollard to the entrance to Falmouth’s main shopping street has hit a dead end after Cornwall Council asked for £20k to pay for it.

Last month the grounds, facilities & environmental action committee was asked by Cormac whether it wanted to move the rising bollard from the entrance to Church Street all the way down to the entrance to Market Street, or just stick with 'gateway' improvements. The committee voted to move the bollard by four to three.

The relocation was part of a series of gateway improvements such as, new signage, lining, planters, seating and a clear crossing point at the site being funded by Cornwall Council.

However Cormac, the construction arm of Cornwall Council, has now come back to the town council saying moving the bollard would cost it an extra £20,000 and would the town council like to like to make that money up.

At a special meeting of the town council last night, councillors debated what they wanted to do.

Cllr John Spargo said while he fully supported moving the bollard last time he couldn’t support moving it if the town council had to pay for it.

Deputy mayor Kirstie Edwards said she was always in favour of a ‘pretty gateway’ anyway. “I definitely don’t want to spend £20,000 on moving the bollard,” she said.

Cllr John Spargo said “We shouldn’t expect the ‘pretty gateway’ to do anything other than look nice.”

Cllr Steve Eva suggested that the town council go back to Cornwall Council and tell it that's what they promised to do and they should do it without asking the town council for more money.

It was proposed that the council went back to Cornwall Council saying they wouldn't pay to move the bollard and just go for the enhanced gateway. 

An amendment proposed by Cllr Eva to stick to moving the bollard and tell Cornwall Council that it should pay for it as promised, failed.

Councillors voted to revert to phase one of the gateway project.

The improvements to the entrance to Falmouth town centre is part of making the current Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) permanent. 

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There will be a series of gateway improvements planned such as, new signage, lining, planters, seating and a clear crossing point.

An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) is like a Permanent Traffic Regulation Order - it is a legal document which imposes traffic and parking restrictions. ETROs are used to see if a scheme will work in practice.

The 'pedestrianisation' of Falmouth town centre during the hours of 11am to 4pm is part of plan to make Falmouth Town Centre more user friendly.