- Joe McGrath, CEO of Tipperary County Council
Because of fears expressed by residents over loss of parking spaces on Davitt Street in the town, #march4tipp wrote twice to Joe McGrath, CEO of Tipperary County Council seeking clarity on the number of spaces to be lost. The same reply was received on both occasions. The same reply and set of drawings were also recently posted on social media by Councillor Michael Fitzgerald. The drawings issued by the Council and the Councillor appear to undo agreements previously reached with residents and have caused fresh fears that a large number of parking spaces are to be removed.
These drawings clearly show features that residents thought the Council had agreed to remove in order to restore some spaces for residents.
The above image from the drawings issued this week shows bollards to be installed in front of houses 5 to 10 Davitt Street. The purpose of the bollards is to prevent parking in front of these houses. Residents had been assured that this had been changed to preserve some car parking spaces, but now the Council has issued drawings to contradict that agreement.
This photo shows the houses where parking will be removed entirely by bollards shown in the drawings issued by the Council this week to the #march4tipp group. The drawings show a number of features along the affected area that would remove far more than the eight spaces claimed in the Council letter. The bollards shown in the drawings would remove seven spaces alone, with multiple other spaces to be removed by concrete "build-outs" along the street. Although the drawings are difficult to interpret, the minimum number of spaces to be removed appears to be 16 and could be as high as 24.
The information used by the Council to make calculations also appears to be highly suspect. For example, peak parking demand was measured as 43 cars at noon on a Thursday. Most people would expect that peak parking in a residential areas would be in the evenings and night time. A count by residents on one evening showed 68 cars parked in the area, more than 50% more than the number claimed by the Council.
The failure on the part of the Council to be open and honest about its plans is sowing fear among residents. All of this is occurring in circumstances where nobody, apart from the Council believes that there is any need whatsoever for traffic calming on Davitt Street. An unnecessary imposition by the Council has caused much fear and worry.
The #march4tipp group is calling on the Council to mark out clearly and as a matter of urgency what it intends to do so residents can get a clear understanding of the plans.
