Magee College neighbours appeal for long-term solution to traffic and parking nightmare

Derry Journal

Transcript

00:00 but anybody, you know, pushing a pram or wheelchair.

00:04 I've actually seen elderly people,

00:07 you know, with sticks,

00:11 actually having to walk out into the road

00:13 'cause they can't get by.

00:15 Now, we have a great system with the police.

00:17 The police are really as good as they can be,

00:20 given that, you know, they are police

00:21 and they're doing other things.

00:23 But they're really good in that I can notify them

00:27 and they will notify people now.

00:29 And the thing about it too is

00:31 they're not anymore giving warnings.

00:33 They're actually going straight to endorsement and the fine.

00:37 - You've explained that there used to be an issue,

00:40 maybe it was nightlife and these things happened.

00:43 That stayed off, that's not a problem so much?

00:44 - No, not at all.

00:45 Since we started, what is it now?

00:47 It must be 18 years ago, we started the warden's scheme.

00:50 Because this road is the designated way for the students.

00:58 And if you think about it, you know,

01:00 there's 580 students down there.

01:03 So they come down, they go back for lunch,

01:05 they come back and back again.

01:07 That's over 2,000 footfalls in a day.

01:11 So it's important that the road is secure and safe

01:14 and people don't park on,

01:16 I would think that's something like Shipkey Street

01:17 on a Saturday, you know.

01:19 - This is a very old residential area.

01:21 - Yes.

01:22 - It wasn't designed for this at all?

01:23 - Not at all, not at all.

01:24 It's all, as you can see here, the gap, you know,

01:27 and just now, I don't know if you caught it on the film,

01:30 but an ambulance just went by and it's filling it.

01:34 I had an oil delivery this morning

01:36 and the lorry coming down,

01:37 now he's got difficulty getting by.

01:39 Occasionally people get their wing mirrors--

01:42 - Clipped.

01:43 - Clipped, occasionally.

01:45 It really isn't done, it really isn't good.

01:47 And now up the road in Duncraighan,

01:50 the same thing is happening.

01:51 And that, of course, is a major thoroughfare.

01:53 - Yeah.

01:54 - You know, it's an ancient way, that.

01:55 - So what needs to happen?

01:57 - What's gotta happen is we've got to think about it

02:00 in joined up thinking.

02:02 You can't have planners building flats willy-nilly,

02:07 so that, you know, with no parking.

02:10 You've got to also say,

02:12 look at it from the point of view of a walled city.

02:15 If you go to Ely, Cambridge, Oxford,

02:19 cities all over the place,

02:21 they do park and ride systems, which work for people.

02:25 And buses, you know, obviously take people

02:27 backwards and forwards.

02:28 If it's a major tourist town, that's gotta happen.

02:31 And I don't think there's,

02:32 I don't think there is any kind of long-term,

02:35 thought out, joined up thinking.

02:38 - We all want to see Magee expand to a full university.

02:43 But I think what you're saying is

02:45 the infrastructure has to be put in place.

02:46 - It has to be.

02:47 When I first came home in, when was it, 2005,

02:52 18 years ago, is that right?

02:54 Yeah, 18 years ago.

02:56 We were talking about 3,500 students.

02:58 It's now 5,000, 5,500.

03:01 And that is wonderful.

03:03 900 of those are medics of one type or another.

03:06 You know, we need medical provision.

03:08 - It's a big success.

03:09 - It's a great success story.

03:11 And that has to be encouraged.

03:13 And Malachy O'Neill and his people in the university,

03:15 Gareth and so on, great stuff.

03:17 All behind them.

03:18 And, you know, the residents here

03:19 would all be very much in favor.

03:22 But there has to be some kind of joined up thinking.

03:25 I'll tell you what it's gonna be.

03:27 I'll tell you what it's gonna be, Kevin.

03:28 What's gonna happen is, one of these days,

03:30 one of these students is gonna be walking down here

03:32 and they'll walk through and they'll get injured

03:35 or even killed.

03:36 And you know what's gonna happen.

03:37 There'll be people going, "Oh, oh, oh,

03:39 we must do something," and all that kind of stuff.

03:41 - I was gonna say that the thing about this area

03:43 is it's largely settled.

03:45 - Oh, yeah.

03:46 - Elderly population.

03:47 But if you had people in these houses,

03:49 if you had kids, young children,

03:51 you could see it happening quite easily.

03:52 - Yes, the elderly, if you don't mind.

03:54 I would prefer mature or pre-elderly.

03:58 But no, no, you're absolutely right.

03:59 It's a settled community and most of us are,

04:02 there aren't that many small families.

04:05 - But if there were, quite as you say,

04:07 and it could happen with a student as well.

04:09 - Oh, yeah, absolutely.

04:10 Absolutely so.

04:11 And, you know, we do have these tragedies

04:13 from time to time where, you know,

04:15 with drink and drugs and things like that,

04:17 which appall you.

04:19 Something that is our own fault

04:21 'cause we haven't considered it

04:22 in the grand scheme of things,

04:26 that would just be tragic.

04:27 It would break your heart.

04:29 Not just us.

04:30 It's Bond Street across the river.

04:32 The bog is awful, isn't it, down there?

04:34 You know, it's terrible.

04:36 It's not just these areas.

04:37 It needs to be a thought-out program

04:39 for the whole of the city.

04:41 - Up at Glen Rosemount and all that sort of thing.

04:44 - Argyle, up there, the medical center,

04:46 is it Northland Medical Center, I think it is?

04:48 That area, you know, there's people coming out

04:50 who are not well, and it's really very, very congested.

04:54 Very difficult.

04:56 I think the expression is over-parked.

04:58 You're kidding, you know, it's congested.

05:00 It's congested.

05:01 And it wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else.

05:04 You know, you don't have these sorts of systems

05:06 in other places.

05:08 - Yeah.

05:08 - And I don't see why it should be here.

Category

Transcript

Recommended