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From the WMDC Press and Communications Office IMPROVING NIGHT TIME STREET SAFETYWakefield's main street through the city centre will be closed to all traffic except taxis, buses and emergency vehicles for the first time on Friday night to help boost community safety. The Wakefield District Community Safety Partnership has developed the plan which will see Westgate made a one way route only away from the city between 7pm and 4.30am on Friday and Saturday nights. It is hoped the closure will help reduce violent crime and anti-social behaviour and follows consultation with the public, licensed premises in the area, taxi drivers, bus operators and the emergency services. The trial scheme should also help people move quickly away from the area once they are ready to go home by making it easier to get taxis. From May 5, Westgate will be made a one-way road with access restricted to taxis, buses, hackney carriages and emergency vehicles only with diversions in place to travel the other way. The restriction will apply from Wood Street to Drury Lane and Smyth Street. This is one of a number of measures in place to help boost community safety in Wakefield City Centre including night time marshals, extra policing and CCTV cameras as well as a proposed ban on unauthorised street drinking. The scheme will be launched for a trial period of four months. There will be a review after three months, with scope for further measures to be introduced in the following month if the scheme can be improved further. Sam Warmington, Wakefield Council's Service Director of Enforcement and Environmental Health, said: "Our aim is to make Wakefield City Centre a safer place for everyone, and this is just another step we are taking to further build on the reductions in crime we are already seeing. We have worked extensively with local people and businesses in the plans who share our aim to make Wakefield a safer place for everyone." Chief Superintendent Mark Whyman said: "This scheme should certainly help to get people out of the city centre more quickly after a night out, which will ensure fewer people on the streets at any one time. This is just one of the measures that the Partnership is taking to make the city centre a safer place at night - others include working closely with licensees, an increase in patrols under the Government's Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign and extending the alcohol exclusion zones. Violent crime and disorder is decreasing, and we will continue to work closely with our partners to reduce it even further." Ref:
PR812
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