Derry's Year in review: February 2023

The shortest month of 2023, February, began with the announcement the detrimental effects of defective concrete and defective concrete products manufactured in the Republic of Ireland and sold into the Northern Ireland market were to be monitored by Derry City and Strabane District Council.

In response to a notice of motion by elected members, Council has begun quantifying the number of residents in its area whose properties contain ‘mica’.

Council has also written to the Department for Communities with regards to compensation and engagement with the Irish Government in relation to this issue.

However, Donegal environmentalist, Enda Craig, “warned” the people of Derry not to be “suckered” into accepting what he described as  into accepting the Irish Government’s “flawed remediation scheme”.

Mr Craig described Irish Standard (IS) 465, the protocol underpinning the Irish Government’s redress scheme, as “completely fraudulent”.

Meanwhile, a young wheelchair user in the city contacted Derry Now about the lack of wheelchair accessible taxis in Derry in the evenings, which was seriously hampering her independence.

Patricia Clifford from the Inch View area of Derry added she knew of several other wheelchair users who were also finding it difficult to socialise or attend night-time events because of the taxi shortage.

Patricia said she wanted to highlight the issue having spent one full day last week unsuccessfully attempting to book a wheelchair accessible taxi for a special event.

“My sister, Carol, got me tickets for the Dominic Kirwan concert in the Millennium Forum on Thursday and I have been looking forward to it ever since. I have been a Dominic Kirwan fan for years. The concert starts at 8pm and is over at midnight,” said Patricia.

“I have cerebral palsy and use a wheelchair all the time. On Tuesday past, I spent the whole day  trying to book a taxi for Thursday night. I phoned every taxi firm I knew in Derry but no-one had a wheelchair accessible taxi available at night. I could not make a booking.”

There was some good news with the announcement the Strathfoyle Greenway project on the outskirts of the city had received £104,944 from the British Government’s Levelling Up fund.

Strathfoyle Greenway project is a 2.7km long greenway, which will link up the area with the rest of the city’s greenway network. When completed, it will include street lighting controlled by a smart system to minimise energy consumption and impacts on wildlife.

Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan welcomed the Strathfoyle Greenway project funding, describing it as “brilliant”.

Speaking to Derry Now he said: “It will bring huge benefits in terms of health and well-being, the environment and even financially for people who are able to leave the car at home and safely walk or cycle into town and all the amenities here.”

At the end of February, environmental group Zero Waste North West (ZWNW) announced it had withdrawn its endorsement of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Zero Waste City-region status.

This meant the environmental organisation would no longer be working in partnership with Council as the local affiliate of Zero Waste Europe, the legitimising body.

The shock move came in a recent ZWNW presentation to Council’s chief executive, John Kelpie.

ZWNW said it was withdrawing its endorsement of the authenticity of Council’s commitment to Zero Waste.

However, the environmental group has not closed the door to the possibility of a real partnership between Council and itself in the future. To that end, it is working with councillors from all political parties.

The Derry branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) has held a vigil at Free Derry Wall, during the Bloody Sunday commemoration weekend.

IPSC branch representative, Catherine Hutton: “We are here to mark the massacre on January 26 of nine Palestinians in Jenin Refugee Camp during an early morning raid by the Israeli army.

“It is very poignant because the Bloody Sunday events are being held this weekend and it is so reminiscent of what happened here in Derry 51 years ago.

“What is happening in Palestine and the oppression has got to the point where every day there are one or two Palestinians killed.

“Since the start of January, there have been more than 30 Palestinians killed.

“So, the world is watching and not doing anything, so we have to do what we can. We have to raise our voices in any way we can.

“Today is really just to show respect for the dead and also to show support for Palestine and show them they are not alone,” said Catherine Hutton.

There was widespread rejoicing in Derry in February at the news that the controversial one-way traffic system around the Diamond area of the city was to be scrapped.

Councillors took the decision at February’s meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Environment and Regeneration committee.

The introduction of temporary one-way traffic arrangements along Ferryquay Street and Upper Carlisle Road were designed with the objective of creating extended pedestrian space on Ferryquay Street and an associated reduction of vehicular traffic flow along this narrow street.

However, the arrangement was heavily criticised at the time.

Shortly after its introduction, Declan Moore, the owner of Claude’s Café on Shipquay street told Derry News: “The one-way system on Ferryquay Street has been a disaster.

“It encourages traffic to come up Artillery Street and have a blind corner.

“If there has not already been, I think there will be accidents.

“Traffic is essentially coming up steep, narrow side streets. There is too much congestion on roads that were not meant to take that much traffic. Apart from anything else, you literally cannot see traffic to your right when you come up Artillery Street, unless you are nearly entirely out of the actual side street.”

A public consultation survey on the city centre one-way traffic system was launched by Council on November 4, 2022. It closed on December 6, 2022. Face-to-face interviews were also conducted within the vicinity of Ferryquay Street to obtain views at first hand.

The total number of respondents was 508.

According to documentation seen by Derry Now, the majority of both online and physical surveys opted for the scheme to be removed and returned to two-way traffic.