Many disabled parking spaces in Letterkenny are not fit for purpose, Donegal County Council has heard once again.
Fine Gael Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh has called on the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District to budget for regular upgrades of various parking spaces over the coming years.
Issues with dropped kerbs, lack of visibility and spacing are preventing people from using the facilities, Cllr Kavanagh said.
He called for an updated survey of disabled parking bays in the town.
A previous audit in 2020 looked at the 67 disabled parking bays in Letterkenny town which included on street parking and disabled parking bays in council car parks.
“At the time the council put the cost of implementing the measures identified at €31,043 and proposed that should a suitable budget be identified in 2020 the measures in the report be implemented,” Cllr Kavanagh said.
“The main measure identified in the report was that the bays mainly did not have blue surfacing this was the case in 44 of the 67 bays examined.
“Blue surfacing is not obligatory but is recommended in the traffic signs manual which states that “the bays may have blue surfacing and the provision of dropped kerbs should be considered to enhance accessibility.”
“Of the €31k cost identified in the report €19k involved blue surfacing, or blue surfacing , dropped kerbs and signage.”
Cllr Kavanagh said he felt that dropped kerbing should take priority over blue surfacing. He also asked the council to look at parking bays without adequate space for ramps out the back of vehicles.
“If we budgeted for this work over a period of time rather than looking for money to do it one year as was the case in 2020 we might be better placed to get it all done, if we prioritised the busiest problem areas first and did this work over a couple of years it might work better,” Cllr Kavanagh said.
He pointed out several locations in Letterkenny that lack a dropped kerb: Mac’s Deli, Upper Main Street, opposite the Library, St Eunan’s cathedral, the chiropodist on Lower Main Street, the Station House Hotel, Donegal County Museum, Conwal Parish Church, Scoil Cholmcille and many more.
“The boys’ school for example is part of our new active travel scheme, so that should surely have been included as part of that contract, and any new footpaths being installed as part of active travel or for whatever reason should have dropped kerbing at crossings and disabled bays as part of the plan,” Cllr Kavanagh said.