Calls for action on city laneway which has become a 'magnet for antisocial behaviour'

SINN FÉIN councillors in the city’s north-west ward are to call on Cork City Council to explore the possibility of closing off a laneway in Blackpool which has become a “magnet for antisocial behaviour”.

Cllr Mick Nugent and Cllr Kenneth Collins are to table a motion calling on the council to examine all options, including the closure of the laneway connecting Seminary Place with Lovers’ Walk.

“It’s a persistent area for rubbish dumping and even needles being discarded,” Mr Nugent told The Echo.

“It’s become a bit of a magnet for antisocial behaviour.”

He said local residents had been in touch highlighting their concerns and that Sinn Féin will be calling on the council to take action.

“We’ll be putting a motion to council asking them to look at different options in terms of either closing it off or putting a gate there which could be opened and closed at particular hours.”

Mr Nugent acknowledged that whilst the laneway is a “handy shortcut” for people coming up Redemption Road and then onto Lovers’ Walk, he said it “wouldn’t be a massive inconvenience for people to walk around either, in the interests of wider community safety”.

Mr Collins, who lives in the vicinity, said it is distressing for residents to be walking down the lane to see “drug paraphernalia and antisocial behaviour and rubbish on a daily basis”.

“As a resident in the area, it’s being used as a dump by people who are disrespecting the community and disrespecting themselves.

“If it was closed off it would be beneficial to the community in that area. I think it would quieten the area down,” he continued.

Mr Collins said it is important that the nearby residents’ views be taken into consideration when exploring options for the laneway.

“It’s important that their views are taken on board. We’ll put a motion forward and we’ll come back with a response and we’ll work on that then.”