Local Green Party coordinator Mark McCormick said, “Pedestrians approaching the bridge from the Ballynahinch side found find that the pathway opened up into a sudden 14ft drop owing to the failure to upkeep the parapet. The pathway on the Crossgar side also led to an 8ft drop where the parapet has been side-swiped by an articulated lorry and this area was used for drinking.”
“I contacted the Roads Service and demanded immediate repairs as someone could easily have been killed or seriously injured. I have since received news that work has been undertaken to improve the state for the bridge and fix the existing damage. I welcome this announcement and thank the persons responsible for their work”, said Mr McCormick.
Cllr Enright commended Mark McCormick for following up on this issue over the last few months and thanked local Green Party member Kenneth Martin for highlighting the situation.
“It is vital that we conserve our railway heritage as all over Ireland and Britain old railways are being revived and restored. The Green Party in Government in the Republic of Ireland has played a part in reactivating the Cork to Cobh line, Limerick to Ennis and Galway lines, the Dublin to Naas line and appears to have succeeded in keeping the west coast interconnector from Cork all the way up to Sligo with a feasibility study to connect Donegal town to Derry.
“If we preserve the railway infrastructure in County Down we keep open the possibility of our own railways being reopened in the future” concluded Cllr Enright.
Cllr Enright and John Hardy at Dunmore crossroads, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.
Cllr Enright explained, “We had previously campaigned with planning enforcement to have a derelict building on the site which had been causing traffic problems to be removed, but it seems that while the rest of the house was demolished, a significant section of wall remains and this continues to block the sightlines of road users approaching the crossroads from the Spa direction.
Local Green Party coordinator Mark McCormick said “It took over 18 months of pressure from the Green Party for the original ruin to be demolished, and it had been there for 10 years. We hope it wont take the same amount of time to have the wall demolished as it is a serious hazard.
“The remaining bit of wall caused disruption to the recent successful sheep dog trials as it was unsafe for large numbers of vehicles to be emerging from the crossroads and it was only due to the utmost vigilance from the organisers and road users that accidents were avoided. However, in the past few days there has been a serious accident between two lorries and this highlights the need for action to be taken straight away.”
Cllr Enright concluded “I will be pursuing this matter with the Planning Service and with Roads Service to ensure it is taken care of with urgency. In the mean time I ask road users to continue to use caution at the crossroads.”
The following photos show the scene of the recent crash at the crossroads:
Local Green Party co-ordinator John Hardy said ‘It is unsettling to hear the news that the school has once again been the target of anti-social behaviour, a year almost to the day since the old school was burned last year. It seems that young people are willing to attack services in their own community and steal from those providing education for young children- the children of their friends and neighbours. We totally condemn this activity and ask local people to be vigilant in observing and reporting any anti-social behaviour.’
He continued ‘The theft and damage to the school comes just before the start of the new school year when teachers and staff are busy preparing for the months ahead. This makes it all the more reproachable as children will be starting the new term without equipment and with damaged facilities.”
Cadogan Enright, Green Party Councillor, supported John Hardy and said “As a school governor, I can say that we were all looking forward to the exciting opening next Wednesday the 1st in what I believe will be the best primary school in south Down.
As a member of the Down Policing Partnership, I’ll be using my influence to ensure regular patrolling and I will be seeking the harshest treatment possible for people attacking our community’s new Bunscoil.
Astonishingly Down District Council had no submission ready for the last council meeting the Monday before the official responses have to be in. Councillors and management were left scrambling for a last-minute response thanks to the opposition of the SDLP to a cross-party approach to the councils submission.
Green Party Councillor Cadogan Enright challenged the SDLP to end their opposition to a cross-party approach to the new Hospital campaign at On Wednesday 18th July at The Downe Community Health Committee meeting in Denvirs.
Cadogan (on right hand side of pic) pointed out that when the SDLP voted down the cross-party motion on 6th June last proposed by himself the DUP and SF it left the Chief executive with no authorisation to
1. use council resources to build a professional submission on behalf of the council as a whole,
2. stopped him accessing the £30,000 budget to hire professionals to advise the council
3. and prevented him from consulting the DCHC on the councils submission.
The SDLP were represented by Margaret Ritchie and Colin McGrath (sitting beside Cadogan), and despite being asked twice to fix this problem in the interests of the whole community, they refused to respond on this point.
Cadogan warned the SDLP that the council would be hamstrung on the hospital issue unless the SDLP cooperated with the other parties on this point.
Cllr Cadogan Enright’s concerns were borne out at the council meeting of Monday 23rd July when the chief executive of the council announced that (with 4 days to go before the deadline) the council had nothing ready and nobody ear-marked to do the job – 3 months into the consultation process.
Fortunately the consultation period was extended to the 17th September – this allows the council time to make up lost ground – see next posting on Hospital Campaign Page.
To view more on our hospital campaign click here
Cllr Enright updated the Downe Community Health Committee (DCHC) on the Facebook campaign launched and maintained by Barry Magee and Mark McCormick, to which over 1800 mostly younger people have signed.
DCHC leaders Eamonn McGrady and Dick Shannon commented at the meeting that this was a vital new development and they needed the skills of the younger generation to reach the thousands of people in the District who now used ‘new media’.
Cllr Enright was then asked to approach Barry and Mark to see if they would agree to have their Facebook campaign become the official online campaign of the DCHC, to which they agreed.
To join the Facebook campaign click here:
Save Downe Hospital’s 24-hour Accident & Emergency (A&E) Services
TO SEE MORE ON OUR HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN CLICK HERE
Cllr Enright, Dick Shannon, John McAllister MLA, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.
The meeting also allowed Dick Shannon of the Down Community Health Committee to the meeting listen to the update on the consultation process by Trust Project Managers for the three hospitals under review- Downe, Lagan Valley and Ulster- gave a report on current consultations and progress on these so-called “reforms”.
After viewing the Lisburn City Council presentation in support of transferring services to Lagan Valley Hospital, Cllr Enright said ‘Down District Council has a lot of work to do to get our counter argument up to the same standard.’
South Down UUP MLA John McAllister also spoke at the meeting. Cllr Enright said ‘John McAllister spoke well on the location of acute mental health services but seemed a litle weak on maintaining the consultant led A+E Department. I said to him that we should not allow the Trust to use difficulty in recruitment as an excuse to downgrade A+E. ”
“That being said, John is miles ahead of UUP Councillors in Down District who have simply rolled over in the face of the Trust”, he stated.
TO VIEW MORE ON OUR HOSPITAL CAMPAIGN CLICK HERE
