LABOUR Party councillor Joe Leddin has called for the former John Moloney’s Garage site in Rosbrien to be converted into a park and ride facility.
Cllr Leddin believes the site is is well located along the main Ballinacurra Road, which also includes new bus lanes directly into the city centre.
The site, which remains in the ownership of NAMA, has remained in a derelict state since a planning application to build a commercial office development was approved several years ago.
“The provision of a park and ride will provide an additional incentive for those who wish to visit the city centre without the need to drive, as the frequency of buses has now increased with the addition of the new bus lanes,” Cllr Leddin told the Limerick Post.
“A car park with a modest charge to cover the operation I think would be successful especially during the Christmas period or when large scale events are been held in the city. As a council we need to become much more creative in terms of improving our service offering while also providing tangible solutions to the owners of derelict or unoccupied sites through the city.”
The City West representative is of the view that the temporary relocation of St Paul’s Primary School into the former Scoil Carmel building from September will add considerable traffic volumes to the general area.
“This site offers a number of short term solutions for alleviating traffic congestion,” he suggested.
“I have spoken with senior officials in the Council’s Economic Department and I look forward to receiving some positive feedback on my proposal to remove another derelict site from the cities landscape.”
In response, a spokeswoman for Limerick City and County Council explained, “The Council does not have ownership of this site. Various options for redeveloping this site have been presented to the Council in the past but no definitive redevelopment proposal has been pursued to date. The Council is open to discussions for the re-development of the site.”
At last Monday’s metropolitan area meeting of Limerick City and County Council, Cllr James Collins (FF) said that there is “merit in seeing what can be done with the site,” adding that it would be a good idea “to engage with the schools about staggering opening times to try to alleviate the traffic congestion”.
Cllr John Gilligan (Ind) said that “NAMA should put in a roadside park on the site as the present situation was simply not good enough”.
by Alan Jacques
