‘Replace green spaces with parking spots’, says councillor

A COUNCILLOR wants to see green areas in estates used to accommodate more parking spots.

Cllr Catherine Slattery, Fianna Fail, made the call at this month’s metropolitan district meeting.

She said residents at estates in her electoral area, like Glasgow Park, Oakwood, Old Singland Road, Hilltop and St Patrick’s Road would be better served if some of the smaller green spaces were taken away or cut into.

“While we need some green spaces for children to play, what I’m finding on the doorstep is a lot of families might have two and three cars and they’d be parked on footpaths all over the place,” she said.

She insisted she did not want to see green areas removed in their entirety – just enough to accommodate a few more spots for cars.

She said the council has already done similar at its new Hawthorn Drive development in Rathbane.

“When it suits them to put cycle lanes in, it’s ok to cut away the green spaces there. But they won’t cut away to help residents,” she said.

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Cllr Slattery highlighted a situation in Glasgow Park, where there are small grass verges between parking spaces.

“These are more of a nuisance to residents because they have to keep them trimmed. Most people in Glasgow Park would love the green separators to be taken away. As it stands, Glasgow Park is overran with cars,” said Cllr Slattery.

In a reply to the question, council’s head of strategy in transport Hugh McGrath wrote: “Any proposals to reduce green areas to make provision for parking would need to go through a planning and consultation process.”

He said a certain amount of green space needs to be retained in estates in order to comply with planning permissions, and said other options to resolve issues should be considered before loss of grass.