Togher residents ‘frustrated’

Cork City Council came in for criticism at a meeting of the Togher Neighbourhood Safety Forum, held on Tuesday evening at the Togher Family Centre.

Residents were critical of the lack of communication coming from the council in relation to the closure of the Leghanamore road, as part of the Leghanamore Road Improvement Scheme.

The road was closed on the Lehenaghbeg side of the hill to facilitate the digging of a five metre trench.

The road is due to reopen Wednesday evening.

Residents described the lack of communication from the council on the road closures as “alarming”, and expressed frustration that they had not been properly made aware of them.

One resident said “communication from city council was very poor”.

“When the scheme was being first discussed, there were trees there that we were told wouldn’t be removed.”

They have since been taken away.

“Last week, it was alarming that the city council told us that they weren’t responsible for traffic build up,” they said.

Residents did say that the communication from the engineering company conducting the works, GLÁS Civil Engineering, has been “excellent” by contrast to the city council.

In a response read out to the meeting, the council said it had published two advisory notices of the road closures in the Irish Examiner.

However, Cllr Paudie Dineen said this was an “antiquated” method of advising residents, and new means should be sought.

Cllr Albert Deasy also criticised the council’s handling of the issue.

“The council says that they have been working with residents and local representatives, but nobody has been working with me.

“The chaos that has been going on here was all predictable,” he said.

He also described infrastructural developments in the area as “grossly inadequate”.

Residents raised safety concerns due to the works, with some Brook Lane and Everton Park saying that accidents are only a matter of time due to reckless drivers.

Cllr Dan Boyle agreed there are communication issues with the council, and suggested that measures like door knocking, and sending information directly to residents' homes could be a solution.

However, he also cautioned that infrastructure developments are being demanded by residents and the work to carry those out will be “inconvenient”.

Karen Duke, representing Cork City Council, accepted there were problems with communication on the project that had adversely affected residents.

“I understand that it has been difficult for people,” she said.

She said the council was taking the criticism that was being levied by residents on board, and would try to improve their communication going forward.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.