AFTER years of lobbying and behind-the-scenes work permission has finally been granted for a new, potentially live saving, park-and-ride facility near Roslea.
The new facility at Dernawilt Junction will provide a designated area for cars and buses to safely pick up and drop off school children and commuters.
The news will no doubt be widely welcomed locally, particularly in light of the growing concerns that another child will be seriously injured or worse at the dangerous junction, where pupils have to cross a busy 60mph road to the nearby shop for pick up by their parents.
Earlier this month these concerns were painfully brought home for one local family, after a child was left badly injured when they were struck by a car while getting off their school bus.
Speaking at the time, Jim O’Neill from the Costcutters shop at the current bus stop said the children have to make “a run for it” across the busy route. He said he had been raising the concerns for a long time, and hoped the plans for the park-and-ride could prevent a tragedy.
“We have been warning for years that unless this is sorted, a child will be killed here,” he said.
Cllr Sheamus Greene has now confirmed that the plans for the facility have finally been passed by the Council, and that money had been allocated for the project by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI).
Cllr Greene said the safety concerns at the junction had been an issue since he had joined the Council, and he and many local people had spent years calling for the facility.
Branding the current bus stop as “shocking” he said even the DfI Roads Service said it would never have been given the go-ahead today.
Over the years Cllr Greene said they had DfI, the Education Authority, and the PSNI out to the junction to highlight the dangers, and finally the Department admitted action had to be taken.
“They gave in that they would get something done about it, but they had to get land and funding and planning permission,” he said. “None of those things, especially when it’s a government department, none of those things happened that fast.
“Back in May I got an email that they were progressing on it and they had got the money and they were confident of getting the land, and once they had that they would be applying for planning permission, then they’d be ready to go.”
That planning permission was passed by the Council last week, meaning the project is now ready to go.
“After years of lobbying by myself and many local people it’s great to see this progress,” he said.
To read more on this story see this week’s Fermanagh Herald. Can’t get to the shop to collect your copy? No problem! You can download a copy straight to your device by following this link… Subscribe to current edition
Related posts:
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere