Tubbercurry residents and business owners call on Sligo County Council to re-think reduced parking plan for Wolf Tone Square
RESIDENTS and business owners in Tubbercurry are up in arms at the Council’s plan to reduce parking at the town’s Wolfe Tone Square.
A proposal from the Council plans to eliminate 30 per cent of the parking at the Square in what has been described as a move to decrease the amount of traffic congestion in the area.
However, that has been rejected by business owners on the Square saying that customers could be put off having to park further afield and walking into town.
While those businesses in the surrounding areas insist the plan will simply move the congestion from the Square to their own street.
Gail Walsh, whose husband owns Raffaeles Takeaway on nearby Humbert Street, is one such person who says the Council need a re-think.
She said: “I have been to a number of the public consultations and at a lot of them, they talked about reducing congestion in the town.
“I live in the town and my husband has a business – Raffaeles Takeaway – there as well. I personally don’t think there’s any congestion. I do think there’s an issue with where the bus stops are.
“When the respective buses going to Sligo and Galway meet at the same time, there can be a bit of an issue to get around them – but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s congestion.
“I do think that if they change the routes around the Square, then it probably will cause congestion at the end of Humbert Street – which is where we live.
“That’s probably a concern of mine. We have two small kids aged two and three-years-old. So obviously if there is congestion outside our front door, it would be a concern.
“At the minute, we can park outside our front door. But if the Council do go ahead and change the flow of traffic around the Square, I would be concerned that it would affect our parking.
“My husband’s business has been here for over 40 years and we obviously need parking for our customers. People like the convenience of being able to pull-up outside our front door to pop-in and grab whatever they want to buy from us.
“That’s the beauty of a small town – it’s not like Sligo town where you know you have to go in, find your parking, get out of your car and do what you have to do.
“With Tubbercurry being a small town, people want convenience. I’m all for ‘change’ as the Square is kind of a dead space which is not utilised. It would be nice if there could be more of a community space that we can use. There might be better ways we could spend the money (allocated for this project).”
As for what that might be, Gail says something that would benefit the town as a whole and would be used on a regular basis would be welcomed.
“The money could be put towards a community park as there’s nothing really around the town for the younger population,” she added.
“At some of the public consultations that I’ve been at, we’ve been saying how great it would be to have a swimming pool in the town – although that might take a massive amount of money so that’s probably not feasible. But a sports complex or facility would be a massive asset to our town.
“To go for a swim, we have to go further afield – I take my kids to the pool in Castlebar. We had a pop-up pool in the town for a few months during Covid and there was a big uptake on it.
“In all small towns, we’re always hearing of how the Council want to reduce parking and to stop people bringing in their cars and that they need to be more mobile and walking more.”
Those who advocate the Council’s proposal say that a pay to use car parking facility should be used instead. However, as Gail states, people will want the convenience of free and easy to access parking.
She continued: “We do have a Chocolina Car Park behind us at Humbert Street but people don’t use it. People want the convenience of being able to park on the Square.
“Especially the business owners. I’ve heard it said that they should park at Teach Laighne and then walk down to their businesses. But why should they? They pay their rates.
“This proposal will one hundred per cent affect the deliveries to my husband’s business.
“We get five truck deliveries every week with multiple van deliveries also pulling up outside the door.
“As it is at the minute, there is never an issue of our suppliers not being able to access our business. But if there is a 30 per cent reduction of parking on the Square, then people will come to Humbert Street to park their cars.
“The Council say they want to reduce congestion on the Square but it looks like they’ll be moving that congestion to Humbert Street and other nearby roads.
“For example, when the (District) Court is on every month, I can tell immediately when it’s ‘Court day’ when I walk out of my front door because there’s no parking available.
“As I’ve said, I’m all for change but we have to think about the small businesses. But at the end of the day, the impression I get is that the Council will do what they want to do.”