A business group has hit out at plans which would see new security measures brought in at The Lanes shopping centre in Carlisle.

The Carlisle City Centre Business Group is opposed to proposals to close the venue's entrances connecting Scotch Street and Lowther Street.

The shopping centre has resubmitted plans to Carlisle City Council for shutters at Grapes Lane, which also asks for retrospective permission for them at Globe Lane, which connects English Street with Lowther Street.

It already has permission to close off the West Tower Lane entrance, also in Scotch Street.

This went before the authority's development control committee, which considers planning matters, earlier this year but was deferred.

The centre has said it needs to do this to tackle anti-social behaviour at night, including night shift staff being abused by groups aged between 12 and 20 gathering in the centre, riding bicycles and skateboards in the building and relieving themselves.

Viv Dodd, the secretary of the business group, has hit out at the plans.

"This issue seems to come up every so often," he said.


Viv Dodd "Nobody like anti-social behaviour or vandalism but we have members who have similar concerns and we have to put up with it. You cannot put a gate up in Fisher Street to stop people going up and down it."

He added: "In our view it is purely a police matter."

Mr Dodd also said he was worried about what the effect on Carlisle's night time economy would be, adding that many people travelled between pubs in the city centre and Lowther Street at night.

Mike Vose, who runs the Kings Head in Fisher Street, also hit out at the plans.

He echoed Mr Dodd's views on the impact on the night time economy.

"I am old enough to remember walking through The Lanes as a child," he said.

"I do not think crime and disorder is a good enough reason to close it off to everyone."

He also added that it was something which the police needed to address but did admit he had some sympathy with The Lanes' issues.

Mr Vose said: "I understand David Jackson (commercial director of The Lanes) problems with anti-social behaviour but I do not see why everybody else should suffer."

"A lot of my customers wander between my pub and The Howard Arms (in Lowther Street)," he said.

"A lot of people coming into town get off the bus at Lowther Street and they do not want to walk to the bottom and around Debenhams, it is a poorly lit area."

Mr Jackson declined to comment.

The plans can be seen online at www.carlisle.gov.uk