Bristol City Centre
The party is over: Part of harbourside closed off because of anti-social behaviour
The stretch has been filled with drinkers for the past few weeks
Tristan CorkSenior Reporter
(Image: James Beck/Freelance)
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Part of one of the quaysides of Bristol's Floating Harbour is due to be fenced off by the city council - to stop people partying there.
The city council began fencing off a stretch of the Harbourside on Tuesday (June 23) and more fencing was due to be erected on Wednesday evening, in a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
The action comes after repeated complaints from residents living in the Hannover Quay, Porto Quay and Millennium Promenade area of the harbourside, about large numbers of people gathering in groups, drinking, urinating and defecating.
The problem is concentrated around Brunel Quay - the area more traditionally known as the Harbour Inlet - which has a number of bars and restaurants that have been open for the past six weeks or so as takeaway outlets. There is also a supermarket at the other end of Millennium Promenade.
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A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said on Wednesday there had been a 'large number' of complaints about anti-social behaviour in the area in recent days and weeks, and the fencing would be erected there to stop the gatherings.
Earlier this week, fencing went up to try and stop people accessing the reed bed nature reserves at the end of Hannover Quay, which residents have complained have become more of a toilet than a wildlife haven in recent weeks.
(Image: James Beck)
In early May, after the first easing of coronavirus lockdown measures allowed bars to reopen as takeaway off licences, residents living in Hannover Quay and Brunel Quay complained at crowds of people gathering on the quayside to drink.
Then followed more complaints that the people drinking there didn't have anywhere to go to the loo - the bars and restaurants themselves were closed, and because of the coronavirus lockdown regulations, Bristol City Council had closed all the public toilets too.
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In late May, more than a month ago now, residents of Hannover Quay complained that those gathering in the Harbour Inlet area were using the pontoons and reed bed nature reserves as a secluded spot to go to the toilet, and those complaints about people urinating and defecating in that area were reported at the time by Bristol Live.
One local councillor, Paul Smith, told people they needed to 'take their p*** home with them', in a message to those gathering by the harbourside and the city centre.
On Wednesday, Bristol's city centre neighbourhood inspector, Rob Cheeseman, told Bristol Live the harbourside was the place where most of the coronavirus lockdown breaches were being reported, because there are so many people gathering in a relatively small area, it is not possible for people to maintain a two-metre distance between them and their friends, and their groups and other groups.
On Saturday, the Friends of the Harbourside Reed Bed group, which is made up of local residents who volunteer to maintain and support the greener parts of that area of the harbourside, posted a video showing one of its members filming a man urinating into the nature reserve, and the general scenes.
The narrator described that night - Saturday night - as particularly quiet, as it was a cool evening, but said she feared as the hot weather arrived this week the numbers would increase.
Now, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the council has acted.
Fences blocking access to the more secluded walkways and pontoons in the nature reserve areas have already been put up, but people looking to gather to sit on the blocks around the mooring points in the Harbour Inlet area will find access to that part of the square fenced off too.
"Following a large number of complaints received about anti-social behaviour, part of Harbourside at Hannover Quay was fenced off yesterday, and additional fencing will be installed from today," a council spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"The fencing will be in place for the foreseeable future and reviewed regularly," he said.
"It's regrettable that we've had to take this action but we cannot tolerate the persistent anti-social behaviour and disregard for social distancing guidance witnessed by residents," said a spokesperson for Bristol City Council.
"We are working with the police to tackle this issue," he added.
Bristol City Council