Call to close Kanturklaneway due to antisocial behaviour

A COUNTY councillor has repeated his call for a laneway in Kanturk, which has been the subject of numerous complaints relating to anti-social behaviour, to be closed down.

Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) said he had previously called for the closure of the laneway between Market Place and the Bluepool, but was told by council housing officials this was not possible as it would affect some services in the area.

“I do not accept that. I think it can be closed off and the council can find some other way to access these services. The amount of anti-social behaviour there is unacceptable at this stage and is causing a serious problem for local residents,” Cllr Murphy told the September meeting of the Kanturk/Mallow district committee.

“There is a general policy in estate design at this stage that lane-ways should be avoided at all costs because over the years experience has shown they lead to anti-social behaviour. Any that are not viewable from a house should not be allowed to exist at all,” he said.

Cllr Murphy said that as it was a reserved function of the committee to approve the closure of a lane-way, he would be bringing a formal motion before the next meeting of the committee to close the Kanturk one .

Cllr Timmy Collins (Ind) pledged to support the motion, saying he had also received a number of complaints about unruly behaviour from local residents.

Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) said he too would support the motion, saying there was no reason why the lane should be there in the first place as it did not lead to any specific area of the town.

Cllr O’Shea pointed out that he and Sinn Fein’s Cllr Melissa Mullane had been dealing with a similar problem at Sandfield in Mallow since last year that has yet to be resolved.

“This is an issue that the council is not following up and is using every lame excuse as to why lane-ways should not be closed down,” said Cllr O’Shea.

However, he did point out that simply closing down laneways was not the answer either.

“A closed and isolated lane-way simply becomes a greater magnet for dumping and more anti-social behaviour so should be subsumed into adjoining properties. That is what Cllr Murphy is talking about doing here,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the council has not exactly come up trumps on this whole issue, which is why I will be supporting his motion next month,” he added.

Cllr Mullane also lent her support, saying lane-ways were merely a throwback to outdated estate designs used during the 1960’s and 1970’s.