Councillor Cadogan Enright hit out at a letter from a Sinn Fein supporter in last weeks Down Recorder that Sinn Fein has a monopoly on community activism in Kilclief.
Cllr Cadogan Enright said, “At the last local elections the Kilclief and Downpatrick electoral areas voted in councillors from three different parties. Nobody has a monopoly on representing the people in Kilclief. Simply because the Sinn Fein Minster is saying that Kilclief does not qualify as it is only 400 meters long is no reason to give up at the first hurdle. The facts are wrong and the regulations are inappropriate in this instance. The distance between the Old Rectory and the Church is almost a kilometre.”
“I was pleased to be able to assist local people in their campaign to get a 30mph zone and feel that other parties need to put the community first when campaigning on such issues and not seek narrow political advantage. Other traffic calming measures are also required, especially at the crossroad of Glebe Road with Bishops Court Road.”
Cllr Enright continued, “I believe that the best way to get things done for people in the Kilclief, Lecale Coast and Downpatrick areas is for all three parties to campaign for the benefit of the community on any issue regardless of political persuasion. It doesn’t matter whose minister is blocking progress if we all pull together for the benefit of local people. I am surprised that Sinn Fein supporters would be seeking to go their own way on seeking a thirty mile per hour limit for Kilclief only two weeks after they were criticising the SDLP for doing the same thing on the campaign to save the Downe Hospital.”
“I have personally witnessed the measurement of the road from Glebe House to the Cross roads and it exactly 818 metres – not the 400 metres suggested by the department. Furthermore the section of the Bishops Court Road in Kilclief is also 610 metres long. We have drawn up a map for local residents which will be used to back up local peoples contention that they easily meet the 600 metre criteria for road frontage to obtain a 30mph speed limit or other traffic calming measures,” concluded Cllr Enright.
To view the press cuttings click below:
Enright and SF in kilclief 30mph row