Request For Gate At Monkstown Park Writes Leo McMahon
Installation of a pedestrian gate on the wooden bridge over the river connecting Monkstown Amenity Park to Glen Road for the safety of children was requested by Cllr Marcia D’Alton (Ind) at the monthly meeting of Cork County Council’s Carrigaline-Ballincollig Municipal District (MD). Cllr D’Alton said there was no footpath at Glen Road but there was a plinthe and a barrier. She recalled first asking for a gate on the bridge in 2004 but it was never put in. On a recent Saturday she said she was in the playground with her children when little boy aged around three pulled the swing gate of the new playground open and raced straight out on to the road. This brought back acutely to her how necessary a gate was needed on the bridge, even a timber one with a bolt that would slow a child down. Senior executive engineer Ms Madeleine Healy said it would be looked at to see if something better could be done. However, the reluctance to provide a gate was because of injuries to children such as sharp wood or catching a finger on a latch. It was on that basis that a barrier was installed in the first place to slow somebody done. Cllr D’Alton said the barrier was put in to deter the car owners who were going into the Monkstown Inn from parking across the entrance at Glen Road and ensure visibility of children coming out of the park. She also noted that the new playground had a gate because this was obligatory. It was agreed that the request be examined. Quoting from a letter she received from a parent, Cllr D’Alton said loose stones in the playground in Passage West posed problems because these could be scattered all over the sponge safety flooring causing the parent’s child to get a cut in the knee. There had been other incidents and loose stones also made the play area untidy and messy. The engineer said a contractor was due to go in and replace the stones with a more suitable surface and she undertook to find out when this would take place. Arising from the last meeting, Ms Healy said Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) sent on traffic count details to the council. This arose out of Cllr D’Alton’s call for a controlled pedestrian crossing near Ringaskiddy playground. Cllr D’Alton said that on a recent Monday afternoon, she sat down near the crossing for one and a quarter hours and using the appropriate measuring technique for vehicles, pedestrians and weightings, her findings clearly justified a controlled crossing. Ms Healy recommended she pass on her findings to the TII Road Design office.
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