‘What was so great about this business?’

I am writing in reply to last week’s letter from Laura Smith defending the business which had set up at the old Plough filling station.

This woman seemed to think this business was good for the area. I can’t understand her reasoning.

These people moved in overnight. The first thing that struck me was this is a flat piece of waste ground and they made no improvements to the infrastructure before moving in.

They were here for 10 to 12 hours a day without toilet facilities. Added to that mix was a chip van a matter of yards away. If that’s not an environmental health issue I don’t know what is.

There were no bins for the chip papers and the rubbish in the area was a lot more than the two chip papers this woman talks about.

To me it was like having Nutt’s Corner moved into the picturesque village of Waringstown. It was not in keeping with the area and residents had no notification of its arrival.

There were times you couldn’t even walk down the footpath because of quad bikes and Christmas trees. If someone had tripped and fell who would have paid their claim?

As time went on different things were coming in and out of the business - coal, logs, Christmas trees, bikes and quads. That sort of stuff attracts an unsavoury crowd.

The items that were there weren’t even well secured. We’d already had one fire at the Plough, my fear was there could be another one.

I’d love to know what this woman thought was so great about having this business in the area.

Laura Smith was critical of the Lurgan Mail and Councillor Jo-Anne Dobson. I think the ‘MAIL’ article was a fair representation of what had been going on and I would also like to say well done to Jo-Anne Dobson for acting in the best interests of locals.