Cross Gates' gates 'being used as political tool'

16/08/2009

Gates are being used as a political tool in Cross Gates, a councillor has claimed.

Pauleen Grahame, a local councillor, told the Yorkshire Evening Post that the crossed gates sculpture has been turned into a political tool after complaints were made about the cost of it, now amounting to £143,000.

She asserted that the majority of people complaining about the gates are not even from the Cross Gates region.

Ms Grahame asked if neighbouring councillor David Schofield would be putting some of the £90,000 he gained when Leeds Co-op merged with another towards the cost of the gates.

Mr Schofield told the newspaper: "I was not against Cross Gates having something quite modest and small but this has got out of all control."

A local resident recently told Crossgates Today that the gates are "a joke".

The newspaper said that the gates have been viewed with equal amounts of disdain and affection, but civil servant Simon Watson commented: "What do they say about Cross Gates? Nothing."