With the Lisduggan area subject to a major Active Travel proposal, issues surrounding traffic management and the balance between the needs of the residents and the needs of the SETU student population are cause for an ongoing debate.
Speaking at the September meeting for the Metropolitan Area, Cllr. Jason Murphy said that residents of Ballybeg and Lismore Park becoming prisoners in their owns homes has become an annual event.
“Every time the students go back obviously this issue raises it’s head again,” he explained. “Obviously, there is not enough parking in the University. But is there something we can do to discourage students making these residents effectively prisoners in their own homes when their driveways and gates are blocked and they cant get in or out?”
Cllr. Murphy also thanked Senior Resident Engineer Paul Johnston for meeting him in the area that day.
80% CAR DEPENDENCE
In reply Paul Johnston pointed towards the changes that are promised in the BusConnects programme, while sympathising with the residents effected by this undeniable problem.
“As we know there is an issue in the residential areas surrounding SETU with parking with staff and students, which ultimately I suppose our Active Travel and BusConnects schemes should tackle,” he explained.
“There is a huge car dependence, I think, in SETU, there’s almost 80% staff and students travel to SETU by car. Obviously there has to be other options and those options need to be sustainable.
“As part of the BusConnects programme there will be a terminal put in SETU so that would be great. In the meantime, we certainly acknowledge the issue that resident are having. It’s a real consideration that people live there and you have this transient population that come in and park and people can’t access their house and their driveway.
“Our proposal would be a soft approach initially to try and discourage people, and for that transient population to realise they are parking in residential areas, and then bring it forward from there if needed,” he added.
“Another point that was made is that some of these residential areas need to be developed, possible planted to make a clear divide between residential areas and other areas.”
AARON KENT Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
