Mid Ulster Councillor Barry Monteith has expressed frustration over the fact that a request for a change of policy, which would allow for two hours of on-street parking in Dungannon, won’t be considered until well into 2025.
In correspondence to Mid Ulster District Council, Minister for Infrastructure, John O’Dowd MLA stated: “Thank you for your letter dated April 30, 2024, and forwarded to my Department on September 27, 2024, endorsing Mid Ulster Council’s support that the waiting restriction for on-street parking be increased from one hour to two hours in Dungannon town centre, in an effort to support the local economy.
“My Department introduced one-hour parking restrictions in Dungannon following consultation with the council, and the completion of the public realm scheme in 2018.
“My officials intend to complete a formal consultation on the proposed two-hour parking restriction in 2025, subject to available staff resources.
“This consultation will inform any decision to implement changes to the current parking restrictions.”
Commenting on the Minister’s correspondence at last Thursday’s (December 19) monthly meeting of the local authority, the Independent representative for Dungannon DEA remarked: “The response is a little bit ambiguous as to timescales, and it also talks about [it being] subject to the availability of staff resources.
“You would like it to say ‘It’s going to happen on a certain timescale’.
“It’s also very disappointing that this request was made on April 30, 2024, and we’re talking about well into 2025 before any sort of definitive answer comes back.
“The traders raise these issues in good faith, and I don’t think it’s the best process of decision-making when 12 months later, we could still not have an answer.
“Could I suggest that in the New Year we get back onto the Department and ask for a bit more detail as to when they intend to start the consultation, when would they foresee it ending, that type of information, otherwise I fear this will drag and drag.”
Councillor Clement Cuthbertson (DUP, Dungannon DEA) argued that Mid Ulster District Council had been slow to act on car-parking issues too: “I suppose unfortunately things do take time. Maybe we shouldn’t point the finger at DfI completely, because our own council here are working from 2016 on our car-parking strategy, and we haven’t got that sorted out yet too, which would help businesses in the town in relation to car parking.”
Councillor Deirdre Varsani (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) pointed out that it had taken almost five months for the council’s letter to make it to the DfI Minister: “I want to thank Cllr Molloy for his time as [Council] chair about trying to push this issue of the two-hour street parking from April.
“Now, the letter does say that it was only forwarded to the [DfI] Minister’s department on September 27, 2024, so we maybe do have a question to ask there.
“What happened to the letter between April 30, 2024 and September 27?
“And secondly can I thank Anne-Marie [Campbell, strategic director of Environment] as well who, when we raised it again at Environment committee, followed it up for us to make sure that we got an answer.
“We look forward to this being progressed, and I’m sure all my Cookstown colleagues will be supporting us on this, since their situation for parking in Cookstown is very favourable to the traders.”
