17 April 2003: The combined residents of Lakeside Park, Ashfield and Meadow Court (LAM) in Naas say they will not tolerate the green area at the top of the lakes being turned into a car park.
Residents from the three areas held a get together at the lakeside on Wednesday to voice their views to local representatives.
It is proposed to turn that end area into a car park for staff of Naas General Hospital. All-day car parking in the vicinity of the hospital is a major problem for local residents.
The spokesperson for the combined residents, Maria Pearse, had sent a circular to each house in the area informing them of the meeting as well as to all local representatives. She claimed a 75% response, rising to 90% from Lakeside Park residents.
Only one resident was in favour, the rest against.
“We’re asking you to tell us what’s going on,” she told Cllrs Mary Glennon Seamie Moore and Anthony Egan, the only councillors who had turned up. Apologies were received from Cllrs Pat McCarthy and Charlie Byrne.
When Ind Cllr Seamie Moore told the meeting he would be voting FOR a limited number of car parking spaces at the lakes he was angrily told by one man: “You’re finished! You’re the only one around here in favour.”
Maria had pointed out that the car park at Ballycane Church - made available to hospital staff - is still available and asked councillors ‘so why do you want to build on this green area?’
A man believed that since hospital staff ‘did not taking up the free transport and parking at the Church, it stands to reason they won’t be using this area either’.
Maria said the lakes area is being used at night for larger parties and even if lit, would be intimidating for nurses parking there because of the large groups of people around at night.
Local resident Donal Corcoran stressed ‘not for one moment should we even consider having a car park here’. He said the hospital should be made abide by a condition of its planning permission to provide its own car parking arrangements on site.
Residents were unanimous that once a ‘temporary’ car park was in place it would remain there.
During the sometimes heated discussion, Cllr Mary Glennon said the parking problem will continue as the final phase of the hospital reconstruction will not be ready until 2006. “From the moment I joined the Council I have been insisting they stop building there until they comply with their planning permission over car parking. We have had the Hospital board and the management team down to the Town Hall and asked them why they weren’t acting as role models by parking at the Church and making sure staff did likewise. None of this has been done and the car parking problem is getting worse.”
One man pointed out that people living around the Craddockstown Road have been just as badly effected by indiscriminate parking as residents of Lakelands.
Agreeing, Cllr Glennon said the town clerk had offered three options for car parking - a car park on the Fair Green, at the Swimming Pool Field or on the right hand side of the lakes. “The only one that seemed to work from a traffic safety point of view is this option here at the lakes.”
She has been in contact with Duchas the Heritage Body about Naas Town Council having taken over part of the Fair Green as a car park and said ‘they are furious about it’.
Another man demanded: “Why are we all pandering to cars and why is the County Council car park at St Mary’s (beside the hospital) locked every night?”
Cllr
Seamie Moore, who lives nearby, pointed out that the Council has no responsibility for the car parking requirements of Naas Hospital. He had put down a motion that no permission be given for the next stage of the hospital reconstruction until the management came up with a car parking plan. Seamie Moore strongly criticised the management of the hospital and Kildare County Council. “Bit by bit the new hospital has encroached onto the grounds of the County Council HQ at St Mary’s.”
He added: “If we could go back five years and see how much money was going to be given to the hospital, we should have looked at it going in a green field site.”
He ‘did not agree with the piecemeal type of approach by Council officials trying to work with the hospital’ on the parking issue and said the biggest problem will be when there are 300 staff at the hospital and a matching number of patients and the associated problems of visitors arriving by car. He believed up to 550 car parking spaces will be needed in the general area.
He said the swimming pool will not be rebuilt for the next five years due to a lack of funding. His solution was to treble the size of the existing swimming pool car park and to run a small road in. “That could get 126 cars off the area here and into the swimming pool park,” he said.
Donal Corcoran stated: “The councillors have an agenda to look after the parking in the town. But WE don’t!”
Cllr Moore then shocked the meeting by saying he would be voting FOR a limited number of car spaces at the lakes.
Explaining his position, he added that ‘unless Kildare County Council provides the extra parking at the Swimming Pool (which it owns) I will not vote in favour of the lakes car park’. “If the difficulty is shared, I am prepared to try and do something about it.”
Cllr
Anthony Egan then had his say. He had come to listen to the views of the residents and assured them: “We don’t have a hidden agenda.” He added the hospital should build its own multi-storey car park and that local councillors should be demanding this.
Maria Pearse then drew a loud round of applause by emphasising ‘bad management of the hospital is NOT our problem’. “We do not want a car park here. End of discussion.”
A woman accused the Council of ‘looking for a quick fix’ as Naas Council owns the green area around the lakes.
It was pointed out that the hospital had sought underground car parking for 120 spaces but had then taken over that area as a surgical store.
Mary Glennon advised the residents to ‘go down the legal route’ and object when planning permission is being sought for a car park at the lakes.
Taking a swipe at hospital staff she said: “They’ve plenty of time to walk up the hill to Swan’s supermarket for their lunch but they won’t walk to or from Ballycane car park’.
She said councillors should stick together and insist that the hospital carry out all conditions of its planning permissions with regard to providing car parking. “Otherwise, the problem will land everywhere else.”
Anthony Egan said the reason the lakes area was picked for a car park was because ‘it would be the easiest, quickest and cheapest to develop’. He said planning permission for the new swimming pool is already in place, and also for a road into that site which ‘will rip right through the middle of the Fair Green hill’. He wanted free Park & Ride areas to be made available at the edge of town, with a bus service provided. He said the proposed lakes car park would be ‘strictly for hospital staff’.
Ending the meeting, Maria Pearse thanked the three councillors for attending. She said local Cllr Charlie Byrne had sent his apologies with a message: “Even if you all are in favour of it ... I’ll fight it!”
Cllr Pat McCarthy was out of the country at the time.
Mayor Timmy Conway arrived when the meeting was over.
