Push is on for easy access to Old Church

Councillors decided last week at Committee level to send correspondence to the roads body urging them to get on with the work which, Council Officer Bernie Candlish confirmed they had already agreed to do.

Updating the meeting, Ms Candlish said that the access to the Old Churchyard on Church Street was often hampered by parked vehicles and said Transport NI had agreed to put double yellow lines down to prevent obstruction at the entrance as part of a programme of works to be completed.

She pointed out, however, that no start date had so far been set and suggested that Council write to Transport NI “to stress the importance” of having ease of access for people wishing to visit the historic site.

While Alderman PJ McAvoy appreciated the need for the introduction of double yellow lines, he stressed that their creation be carried out in tandem with the forthcoming Public Realm Scheme works.

“We don’t want them (Transport NI) to be coming back to do something six or eight months later,” he said.

Councillors Timothy Gaston, Billy Henry and Martin Clarke also all spoke out in support of Ms Candlish’s suggestion.

“We need to write to Transport NI again and put pressure on them to get this done,” said Cllr Gaston.