Anglers reeling

With road works ongoing in the Campsie area, frustrated members of the 800-strong Faughan Anglers Association say the Roads Service has failed to deliver on promises to make a stretch of river there accessible.

Roadworks on the A2 from Maydown to Londonderry mean a construction site bars the way to a favoured location at Campsie Bridge and Roads Service has called on the association to advise members to stay off the site.

No parking provisions have been made for anglers, and with the fishing season starting on April 1, the association says fishermen and women will be upset to find their way blocked to popular spots near the bridge. Roads Service says that for safety reasons it cannot permit public access onto the site.

It was known that there would be issues with crossing the new dual carriageway once it has been completed, but anglers are now reeling from the shock of finding out that no provision has been made to help them access the sites close to Campsie bridge for the whole of the 2010 fishing season.

A Roads Service letter dated February 26 and addressed to Faughan Anglers Association secretary, Gerry Quinn warned that people would not be allowed access to the site where road works are under way before "mid-November".

It said: "The present traffic management arrangements and restrictions, including the lines of traffic cones and closure of the lay-by that you referred to, are essential measures to ensure the safe movement of traffic along the route and safety of workers whilst the works are taking place.

"There have been and will continue to be regular visits to the site by Statutory Authorities.

"All such visitors are Site Inducted so that they are aware of the hazards and the respective controls they need to be aware of. All personnel working on the scheme are inducted in the same way, with the workforce immediately in the area of the river briefed specifically on the day to day risks in that locality.

"For safety reasons we cannot permit public access onto the site.

"I would be most grateful if you would advise your members not to enter the construction site for their own safety and those who they could affect."

Mr Quinn told the Sentinel: "They had promised us there would be some sort of provisions made for us. We haven't been facilitated. There are traffic cones all the way around, and there are safety concerns if we have to cross a construction site to get to it."

Mr Quinn said that anglers would need a "helicopter" to gain access to the location.

He told the Sentinel: "The Roads Service are telling us that we can't get access to the tidal part of the river until November.

"By that time the fishing season is over. Unless you have a helicopter then you have no access.

"The Campsie bridge is the only access point and that is now a construction site."

Mr Quinn said his organisation had contacted "everybody you can think of" as early as last year: "We have been in touch with every political party for help. We have talked to Gregory (Campbell, MP for East Londonderry), we have talked to Sinn Fein, the DUP, SDLP and the UUP. All sides of the community come down here to fish and we have a good atmosphere down here. We have been in contact with the Roads Service. We have been in contact with Conor Murphy (Roads Minister). Despite all this we have been frozen out."

Among Mr Quinn's concerns is why a valuable business, providing employment has not been facilitated.

"I assume provisions have been made for the other small businesses along there. We are providing employment ourselves. Why has there been nothing set aside for us?"

He has also urged politcians to help with their cause: "I would ask any politican who helped us last year to take another look at it. We have 800 people who come here every year to fish, and that does not include the people who pay for day passes."

On a personal note, he said: "I have been fishing there since before I was at school. My father used to take me down there to fish forty years ago and I still intend to fish there. I intend to fish this year and as long as I am able I will be fishing there next year. No matter what the Roads Service say."

A spokesperson for the Roads Service said: "For safety reasons we cannot permit public access onto the site. We would hope to be in a position to allow access prior to this date (November), but at this moment in time, cannot not give any specific commitment."