King's Lynn's overgrown railway gates become litter hotspot

The gates which guard the town’s old railway lines were said by councillors to have been raised as an issue for at least the last decade, with no apparent progress made on improving their appearance. 

The matter was mentioned by Conservative councillor Peter Gidney at a recent meeting of the borough council’s regeneration and development panel. 

Mr Gidney said the gates were in an “awful state”, adding: “We really ought to find a pot of money or something to smarten up that area.”

His party colleague, Judith Collingham, said: “We have been talking about in this panel, to my certain knowledge, for ten years. 

“I had hoped that some Towns Fund money [a £25m pot of government cash in Lynn] might have been allocated.

“I understand we don’t own the gates, but I cannot imagine the port authority, or whoever owns the others, would object to us clearing the weeds and painting [them].

Conservative councillor Judith Collingham (Image: Newsquest)

“It’s shocking and it looks awful.”

Labour councillor Francis Bone said the gates on John Kennedy Road had become a hotspot for a particular type of litter.

“People coming back from town tend to throw their kebab over the gate into that [space], as they’re going back home,” he said.

Mr Gidney said he had discussed with Network Rail before the pandemic about whether the spaces behind the gates could be turned into wildlife areas for the public to access, potentially with beehives and new trees planted.

“We started [a] dialogue but then Covid came along, so I haven’t picked it up since,” he said.

The council’s assistant director said he would make enquiries about the results of those discussions.

The panel was due to hear an update on the situation at a meeting on Tuesday, January 10, but the discussion was deferred to a future meeting. 

A council spokeswoman said the authority was in the process of making contact with the county council and landowners, to discuss what can be done about the gates.