BY AUSTIN LYNCH
If proposed amendments to off-street car parking in Enniskillen are given the green light, it will prove extremely costly for people who work in the town.
The Roads Service have revealed plans to do away with the free car park at Queen Street, which is currently used mostly by workers from the shops, offices and businesses around this area, and make this an hourly rate Pay and Display car park.
Roads Service also plan to change Quay Lane South car park to hourly rate parking. At present, people can park in this car park for £1.00 a day.
These proposals aim to create more parking spaces for shoppers and short duration business users but this, it would appear, is at the expense of the working population of the town.
At the hourly rate of 30p, someone who works from 9.00am to 5.30pm will have to pay £2.70 a day for parking. This equates to £13.50 a week and approximately £700 a year, just to park your car.
A number of workers in the town believe this is grossly unfair and have hit out at these 'very unfair proposals'.
Gerard Cassidy, who works in Enniskillen Library, described it as another tax on the Fermanagh worker: "The working population are getting squeezed for everything and it is they who will bear the brunt of these proposed changes."
Mr Cassidy explained that the Queen Street car park, which library staff used, was not a shoppers' car park, and that on a Saturday, when most workers are not there, the car park is half empty.
"This is a wider issue" said Mr Cassidy who believes that all free car parks will soon come under attack.
A number of workers from the town are forming a group to generate as much support as possible in opposition to these proposals by the Roads Service. To date, they have written to Roads Service expressing their concerns. Mr Cassidy believes all the offices in the town will get behind them.
According to Roads Service, there are currently 1,430 off-street parking spaces in and around Enniskillen town centre, of which 644 are charged at an hourly rate of 30p and a further 164 spaces (at Shore Road West and Quay Lane South car parks) which attract a lower charge, providing 3 hours parking for 30p.
Pay and Display car parking has been utilised by Roads Service across Northern Ireland to ensure parking spaces located closest to the town centre are normally available for shoppers and short duration business users, says the Roads Service. Free car parking is used normally for longer duration parking with little turnover of parking occurring during the day.
Recent surveys (by Roads Service) indicate most free car parks in Enniskillen, with the exception of Holyhill Link Road car park, are at or near capacity. Holyhill is less than 20% utilised, hence 150 free spaces are normally available in that area.
The problem is, however, while Holyhill may be of use to those working in the East end of town, it is remote from the West End. To access this site for motorists coming from the Sligo or Shore roads would entail a lengthy journey through town at rush hour, and then a long walk back.
The proposed changes to Queen Street, and Quay Lane South by the Roads Service aim to free up 'short duration' spaces at both West and East ends of Enniskillen, with the changes to Queen Street freeing up 95 short term spaces.
But where, then, will the workers of the West end of town park? The Round O, Erne Hospital or will they have to take to residential areas, such as Riverside or Cornagrade.
"Fermanagh is a rural society and people have little option but to drive their cars into work" said Gerard Cassidy pointing out that public transport is not a realistic option for many in the county.
However, some good news is that a proposed extension to Wellington Place car park will provide an additional 27 free parking spaces at the West end of town.
Roads Service has written to Fermanagh District Council seeking their views on the proposals and they will shortly be discussing the proposals with Enniskillen traders.
