And traders fearful as and parking bite
which in my view is a total eye sore is dealt with.”
Cllr Declan Bree said discussions between the owners and Council had taken place: “I am aware that Council staff and engineers have been talking to the owners of the property and I understand that proposals to address the problem are being considered.
“Everyone can appreciate that making the building safe or demolishing it will create significant challenges for the owners, particularly regarding adjacent premises.
“However, the main concern of people contacting me is the length of time it is taking to resolve matters.
“People have a concern that this could drag on. What is required, in my opinion, is a timeline indicating when the remedial or demolition works will be carried out. It’s the lack of such a timeline that concerns people.
“I certainly have been talking with Council officials about the matter over the past number of weeks and I know that they in turn have been in communication with the owners and their engineers.”
“The forgotten street”
“This is the forgotten street, no one cares about us, no one comes near us,” Nicola O’Grady, proprietor of Nicola’s Hair Salon at 42 High Street told the Weekender when she was asked how the restrictions directly opposite her business have impacted.
Nicola, who has been in business on High Street for 15 years and creates employment for five people including herself, says she thinks it is “ridiculous” that Sligo County Council can’t come in and do something about the buildings that are unsafe.
Because the parking options near her business, six in total, are now not accessible, the Council’s decision to cordon off the old buildings is impacting on her footfall and her turnover: “I am losing clientele.
“Outside my business there is nowhere to go now. Normally there would be six spaces near or outside my business that people could use if they were free, all of those are now gone.
“My clients are very often elderly, some of them in their 70s and 80s and walking any distance to come to my hair salon is not an option for them, they need to be able to park near my salon and they can’t. I am losing business clientele,” she said.
Clearly frustrated by what she feels as a history of neglect, Nicola didn’t hold back: “It feels like the forgotten street.
“They [the Council] don’t care about it, they don’t do anything with this street, we don’t even get Christmas lights outside. From my building to where Harry’s Bar was, no lights at Christmas, nothing, now we have this.
“We pay top rates, we get screwed for everything, we’re like the ‘forgotten street’, they don’t do anything with this street which was historically one of the prime streets in Sligo town.
“We asked them for a disabled parking bay, we were promised one for I don’t know how many years, we still haven’t got it.
“We got a ramp instead that we didn’t need.”
Nicola also feels aggrieved at the lack of consultation from the Council before the cordons were erected: “What really annoys me is that no councillors or nobody from the Council rang to say this was going to happen, that this structure was going to be put around these buildings.
“We just came to work on Monday week last and it was all in place. I do understand the need for safety-first, but at the same time there has to be something for the businesses, they have to do something to help us along.
“You can’t just put a stop on the road and say, ‘oh well, this is the way it is’.”
Asked if anyone had called from the Council to her since the cordon was placed on the buildings opposite her business, Nicola said no one called so she called the Council herself.
“I didn’t hear from anyone, so I called the Council, spoke to an engineer who told me this was a very serious issue, but no one has come near me.”