Fence opposed

A LONDONDERRY father says the decision to erect a 170 metre “peace fence” at the Lisnagelvin Playing Fields will merely shift the problem from the south eastern end of Irish Street to the north western end and jeopardise the safety of local residents including him and his 11-year-old daughter.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Jun 2011, 12:04 BST

Gary McClean - who lives at the Top of the Hill/Irish Street interface - raised his concerns at a meeting of Derry City Council’s Environmental Services Committee on Thursday warning councillors that they were not solving the problem but merely moving it on - again.

He showed the elected representatives a large rock which was thrown through his window during disturbances at the Irish Street/Top of the Hill interface five years ago before he and residents from both sides of the divide worked to engage positively with those involved and avert the violence.

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Speaking to the Sentinel after asking the Council to scrap the fence he said the people likely to be immediately affected by it were not properly consulted.

Derry City councillors decided to approve the fencing after clashes between rival sectarian gangs at the interface last year prompted 24 separate police complaints alone.

According to the local authority it followed requests by “local residents that Council take action to prevent those participating in anti-social behaviour from accessing the Playing Fields at night as this activity was having a serious impact on the families living adjacent to the problem area.”

But Mr McClean said: “This is a so-called consultation that was carried out between the Top of the Hill Community forum and the Irish Street Community Association, the PSNI and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). Not much consultation at all.

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He argued that the people of the area need to be fully consulted about the fence policy and also asked why an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) had not been carried out.

He told the paper: “I was hoping to go over today to appeal to them to pull it out of planning because there was no EQIA carried out. I’m going to have to go a bit further with this. I don’t know how.

“But council is now doing a screening process which would not have come about had I not raised this issue. Again people in council should be fully aware of interface issues.”

He proposed a plan be put in place to emulate the actions of the residents five years ago when he said people engaged with the local young people involved.

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“Through the actions of the residents of Mountain View, Gobnascale and Anderson Crescent we put a presence on the ground and engaged with these young people in a friendly fashion, a non-threatening fashion and it stopped the problem,” he said.

Mr McClean is not alone in his opposition to the fence with the Community Relations Council (CRC) - a charity set up 20 years ago to promote better relations between Protestants and Catholics - amongst those to have joined the chorus condemning the decision to build what has been billed a 170 metre “peace fence.”

But Derry City Council took the decision after a report from the PSNI on sectarianism, underage drinking and public urination in the area.

A spokesperson for Derry City Council explained that the decision to erect a fence at Lisnagelvin Playing Fields was made following approval by Council last month.

Following concerns expressed by Mr McCLean, the Council is currently carrying out an equality screening process that will determine whether or not a full EQIA is necessary

Related topics:CouncilPSNI