July 16, 2020 12.36 pm This story is over 43 months old

Lincoln club owner urges councils to gate off ‘pee and poo alley’

He is fed up with the continuous problem outside his snooker club

A Lincoln business owner is fed up with people urinating and defecating outside his snooker club and is urging local councils to gate off the problematic alleyway.

Phillip Cross took over the ownership of Lincoln Snooker Club last summer, which is located on St Peter At Arches off Silver Street.

The alleyway is becoming more and more troublesome and Phillip said he is sick of seeing people use it to defecate, urinate, take drugs and have sex.

He told The Lincolnite that around six weeks ago someone defecated in the alleyway outside the club before another person was caught on camera at around 6am on Tuesday, July 14.

He said it’s “vile” and he’s “sick to death and angry about it” with people also urinating outside on a daily basis.

He wants both the city and county councils to gate off the whole alleyway after hours, but feels he is being ignored.

He took matters into his own hands after failing to get answers from the local councils. He installed an access control gate in the area immediately outside his club last week, but it hasn’t stopped the problem.

Phillip installed an access control gate in the area immediately outside his club in July 2020.

Lincolnshire County Council said it is open to discussions about installing a gate if the city council and police find that anti-social behaviour continues to remain a regular issue. However, both councils said it would only be a last resort option.

This person was caught on camera defecating outside Lincoln Snooker Club.

Notorious alleyway

In October 2019, a person was caught on CCTV taking a dump outside the gate of the club.

Occasional needles and evidence of drug abuse were found in the area several times a week and Phillip said the issues he continues to face have “always been a problem”.

An unashamed pair, apparently completed unaware they were being filmed, performed a sex act on the pavement in the area last year.

The pair acknowledged the camera multiple times.

The snooker club owner called for the alleyway to be gated off last year and he is still fighting the same battle as he is getting sick of the constant problem.

He recently spoke to the city council’s Public Protection team and Environmental Health to try and get the alleyway gated off at night to protect all the nearby businesses.

Phillip said: “I take pride in my own area, but the wider area is out of my control. I spent a lot of money on a gate, but I am not being heard by the city or county council.

“The mess hasn’t been cleaned up yet and the area needs gating off.

“There are problems in the city centre with public conveniences and anti-social behaviour and people thinking it’s okay to use certain areas as a toilet.

“It makes me angry and when you catch them and tell them not to do it you get abuse.

“I have loyal members and a good reputation for facilities, so people will always come here, but myself, the members and affected businesses deserve to be heard.”

St Peter At Arches has hit the headlines recently. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Councils respond

Francesca Bell, Public Protection and Anti-Social Behaviour Manager at the City of Lincoln Council, said: “We are aware that the owner of Lincoln Snooker Club is calling for this passage to be gated. This is something we would only ever support as a last resort.

“We are currently unwilling to consider a PSPO to gate this passage as restricting public access is not favourable and additionally this passage does not lend itself to being gated.

“When the proposal for the PSPO currently in effect on St Peters Passage was put before our members there was a resounding view that they would not be in favour of gating any further passages.

“And, if the gating of St Peters Passage caused the ASB to move elsewhere, then the PSPO would be revoked rather than us support the gating of further areas.”

The local highways manager at Lincolnshire County Council said: “We’re open to discussions about installing a gate at this alleyway if the city council and police find that anti-social behaviour continues to remain a regular issue and a Public Space Protection Order is pursued.

“However, similar to St Peter’s Passage, any potential change would involve a consultation and preparing a study looking into the positive and negative effects of gating this section of highway.

“It’s important to remember that removal of public use of any part of the highway is only ever considered as a last resort.”