Fountain entrance redesign plan revealed to residents

Pedestrians have had to cross the road at Bishop Gate because access on one side is blocked off.

The gateway, known locally as the “dog leg”, controls access to and from the Fountain but also blocks pedestrian access alongside that side of Bishop Street.

The DOJ commissioned a footfall survey earlier this year which recorded the movement of people through Bishop’s Gate.

This showed that around half of pedestrians had to step onto the road as they approached Bishop Gate to get around the “dog leg”.

This, says the DOJ, represents a significant risk to pedestrians and a solution has to be found to address the current situation.

The status quo, said the department, can no longer be maintained.

The DOJ says its proposal is not to remove the “dog leg” but to redesign it in such a way that the block to pedestrians is removed whilst replicating, as closely as possible, the “function of the current configuration”.

It’s understood the DOJ has now asked for further work to be carried out to produce a final design.

In a letter to local residents, the DoJ says replacing the “dog leg” is a more effective solution than permanently opening the “events gate” within the “dog leg” or, even, closing up that entrance to the Fountain completely.

It’s understood the process of tendering a contract for construction and installation will take a few months.

“With this in mind,” reads the DoJ letter, “we will re-open the ‘events gate’ until the new entrance is in place.

“In light of concerns expressed when the events gate was opened before, we would propose that it will close at 7pm while the gate into the Fountain Estate will continue to remain open until 9pm.”

It’s understood this arrangement is already in place.

The letter to residents concludes: “We understand some will be supportive of our proposals and others less so. We want to address the safety concerns of residents in the Fountain and facilitate safe passage for pedestrians along Bishop Street. We believe the proposed plan meets the needs of all users.”

Anyone wishing to comment on the proposals is asked to contact the DoJ’s Interfaces Team on Tel: 028 90 523782 or via email at [email protected]