Council introduces anti-terror gates to town park
Martyn's Law, requires venues with a capacity of 200 or more to have a plan in place in case of an attack on their premises.The Home Office said that "through the Act, qualifying premises and events should be better prepared and protected, ready to respond in the event of a terrorist attack."
Local Councillor Mel Jacob said that with the park regularly used for music and other events, the town council had to respond to the new legislation."We're all aware of those various incidents where vehicles have driven into people. We haven't had an incident of that type. We're just making sure we don't have one."The new gates will cost £3,000, a burden that will fall on local ratepayers."We didn't have a Martin's law pot of money. It's the same with any health and safety legislation. You've got to make sure you're compliant and obviously making sure people are safe is a key responsibility," Ms Jacob added.
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