Foreglen '˜a forgotten community' - residents

A group of residents who spoke with the ‘Journal’ on Friday claimed their area wasn’t receiving the same level of care as other communities.

Pointing to high grass along the roadside and verges, and weeds dotted throughout the village, Noel McFeely said: “We are concerned with a number of things we feel are detrimental to people in the village, including potholes, and a big problem is the grass at the end of the road, which obstructs drivers’ vision when pulling out onto the road.

“We are the same ratepayers as anywhere else. I was driving through the village of Burnfoot outside Dungiven the other day and it is so tidy looking with nice flowers and the grass cut and, here in Foreglen, we have nothing but rushes.”

Mr McFeely said: “We are a forgotten community. We’ve been asking for lights for different clusters of houses outside the village and we can’t get them. People have been complaining, but it falls on deaf ears.

“We want immediate action. It’s a danger for kids with cars speeding into the village, sometimes you get boy racers, so we need some kind of ramp as one fatality is one too many. We have made representations to local politicians and feel totally let down and it’s very frustrating, to be honest.”

Orla Armstrong, from Foreglen, said: “There are a lot of weeds about the village so, maybe a few flowers would help. I’m sure the community would clean it up, but we shouldn’t have to as we are paying our rates. We do feel neglected because we are off the road and, as the man say ‘out of sight out of mind’. You go into other areas and they look spectacular and here, well to be blunt, it looks like a dump.”

Resident Sharon Feeney, said: “You drive in and the weeds and rushes are desperate. You go into Limavady or Coleraine and they are groomed with flowers and neat grass. We are forgotten here.”

TransportNI say they have plans to cut grass on the adopted verges in Foreglen village within the next two to three weeks, which will include cutting one swathe of grass along the road edge and sightlines at all road junctions.”

Sinn Fein Colr. Tony McCaul said: “I’m on record as having raised these issues on several occasions at Council level.

“I feel the frustration of residents because I feel that too because there are discrepancies.

“For example, they cut grass in town areas five times a year and in rural areas just once year. I’ve also asked for traffic calming measures to be reviewed urgently.”