Illegal parking around UCC causing headaches

Illegal parking is a significant concern for residents around University College Cork (UCC), with cars double-parking and parking on footpaths in the area daily.

The concerns were heard at a meeting of the UCC area Neighbourhood Safety Forum on Tuesday night.

Residents said the illegal parking was causing serious obstruction, and preventing regular collection of rubbish.

They also said that it caused a danger to residents, as it could prevent emergency services from accessing areas that are obstructed.

They said it appeared that cars were not being ticketed for illegal parking.

Community Garda Laura O’Connor said that wasn’t the case, but gardaí no longer issued paper tickets, instead issuing a ticket digitally using the car’s license plate.

Residents also said some responsibility lies with UCC, as many of those parking illegally are students.

Stephan Koch, Commuter Plan Manager at UCC, said the university was caught “between a rock and a hard place” when it came to parking.

He said he appreciated residents' frustration but also had to look after students. He said the university was investigating alternatives with car park owners around the campus to provide more spaces for students so that they wouldn’t have to take up on street parking.

UCC currently has parking for students in a short stay car park on campus - charged by the hour - and at Dennehy’s Cross, Pouladuff Road, and a park and ride at Black Ash. However, he said that the car parks at Dennehy’s Cross and the Pouladuff Road were consistently full every morning.

“Students travelling in from Courtmacsherry or Bantry for an 8 or a 9 o’clock class are having to get up at 6 o’clock to get parking. They get to Dennehy’s Cross at 7am and it’s already closed,” he said.

He said that an increase in the capacity of park and ride was the preferred solution, and he would like to see services from Bandon to prevent students needing to drive into the city.

“We want people out of their cars…it’s not good enough that we have a park and ride in Pouladuff, that’s just driving in and then taking a bus the last mile,” he said.

Labour Cllr Ciara O’Connor said the council’s Transport Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) has requested a meeting with the executive to discuss expanding the park and ride service.

Cllr Dan Boyle (Greens) said the NTA had made an agreement to increase the frequency of the Kinsale Rd Park and Ride, and that this had been approved. He said all it would take to start work tomorrow was political will to do so.

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