People need to know what they are getting with Bogside parking scheme, officials say
Senior civil servants at the Department for Infrastructure have said it is important the people of the Bogside know what they are getting when a new residents’ parking scheme is eventually rolled out.
David Porter, director of engineering, Stephen Hughes, head of engineering policy, and Laura Irvine, head of transport policy, at DfI, recently briefed politicians on progress.
Last November the outgoing Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd published a long-awaited review of Residents’ Parking Schemes across the North and announced the department will continue to develop the Bogside scheme.
All residents’ parking schemes had been paused to allow the department consider lessons learned from a scheme in Rugby Avenue in the Holylands area of Belfast.
During a briefing of the Stormont Infrastructure Committee, Mark H. Durkan spoke of frustration over the lack of progress on the scheme in Derry, which, he said, had been ‘torpedoed’ due to residents’ objections.
“You cited the Bogside scheme in my constituency, which was torpedoed; there were over 200 objections to it. We have to understand what those objections were about and how they can be overcome if the scale or ambition of the scheme were merely decreased by reducing that red line,” said Mr. Durkan.
The SDLP MLA asked whether lessons had been learned from the Rugby Avenue scheme and if other projects will finally be able to proceed.
“There is huge frustration in Derry and beyond about that Bogside scheme. I am sure that every other scheme or any work on every other scheme has been delayed until the nut has been cracked. I am glad to hear that that does not seem to still be the case, but will you confirm that?” he asked.
Mr. Porter said: "I will have a go at answering the question about whether the nut has been cracked. We believe that it has. There was definitely a hesitancy to commit to any other schemes until we got the report published.”
Ms. Irvine said a team has now been appointed to look at progressing the various schemes across the North.
“We are looking not just at residents' parking but at issues such as inconsiderate parking, which is linked to pavement parking issues. At the moment, the Department has approximately 230 requests from across NI for residents' parking schemes,” she told the committee.
Mr. Hughes told the committee that managing public expectations of schemes was important.
"Once there are a few schemes on the ground and people see what is being presented and what lies ahead, they are more accepting of them.
"Here, there is a lack of understanding of what they are physically getting. We have to find a balance. If people are experiencing huge parking problems now, you would think that they would vote for a scheme straight away. For the proposed scheme in the Bogside, one person raised an issue,” he said.
Mr. Porter added: “That then encouraged others. That is the challenge that we have.”
DUP MLA Stephen Dunne noted that it is almost 20 years since Stormont announced its first residents’ parking policy.
“It is coming up to 18 years since the policy was first introduced in 2007. To have only one scheme fully operational, albeit that progress has been made in Londonderry, is slightly disappointing, but I appreciate the challenges,” he declared.