Closure of civic amenity sites for two days a week must be looked at again

SIR, — I received numerous complaints about the chaotic scenes which occurred outside the Cloonagh Road recycling facility in Downpatrick recently.

I visited the area and was shocked at what I discovered. Upon my arrival, I counted 35 vehicles in a lengthy queue wishing to access the centre which has been a major success since it opened.

Clearly, the decision to close this facility and the district’s other household recycling centres two days a week isn’t working and needs to be looked at again.

The queue of vehicles wishing to use the Cloonagh Road facility blocked entrances to a number of businesses and this is something we need to ensure never happens again.

Customers couldn’t get in to a number of premises and several scheduled deliveries had to be cancelled as a result of the gridlock. As Down Council chairman, what happened recently concerns me greatly.

I have met with the local authority’s chief executive, Mr. John Dumigan, to convey to him my concerns, those of ratepayers and Cloonagh Road business owners. I am also pleased to hear that the decision to close the recycling centre two days a week is to be reviewed.

The fact this centre closes on a Wednesday and Thursday means there is a surge of users on a Friday. Did our council officials not consider this when they drew up plans for the two-day closure?

The other question I have is why was no consideration given to suspending the two-day closure in the aftermath of the traditionally busy Christmas and New Year period?

Other concerns raised with me centred on large lorries which enter Cloonagh Road to empty skips which results in the facility being closed to the public. Why can these lorries not arrive before or after the centre opens to the public?

On the one hand we are encouraging ratepayers to recycle and on the other we are limiting the number of days in the week when they can use the district’s household recycling centres.

Ratepayers are concerned at the events which unfolded recently at the Cloonagh Road and they are concerns which I not only share, but as council chairman want to see addressed.

The two-day closure isn’t working in my opinion and this decision needs to be revisited. In the coming years there will be an increasing emphasis on recycling, but yet we have decided to close all the district’s recycling facilities for two days a week. We urgently need to look at this decision again.

Yours etc.,

CLLR. DERMOT CURRAN,

Chairman,

Down Council.