Criticism over demolition delay of blast wall

Criticism over demolition delay of blast wall

24 August 2016

A WARNING has been issued that the closure of one of Downpatrick’s busiest streets next month to allow a blast wall at the town’s former police base to be demolished could lead to traffic “chaos.”

Politicians have voiced concern that the heavy fortification in Irish Street was not removed during the school summer holidays and fear next month’s scheduled demolition could lead to gridlock.

Speculation was rife that demolition work at the former police base was due to start this week, but bulldozers are not expected to be on site until mid-September. Irish Street will have to be closed to traffic, possibly for several weeks, to allow the huge fortified structure to be demolished.

Police officers and civilian staff moved out of the Irish Street base last November to relocate to new district command headquarters at the Downshire Civic Centre, but there is concern that the removal of the blast wall is taking so long.

South Down MP Margaret Ritchie and Councillor Dermot Curran insist the demolition work should have been carried out before pupils return to school, given the traditional huge increase in town centre traffic when the new academic year gets underway.

Miss Ritchie said it was her understanding that the blast wall would in fact be removed during the summer months when traffic in Downpatrick is at a minimum “to ensure there was no detrimental knock on effect on traffic and town centre business.”

She said Newry, Mourne and Down Council recognises the need to push forward with a regeneration project in Irish Street and it’s hoped a new initiative to provide money to upgrade shop fronts and finance a new public realm scheme would act as a catalyst for existing businesses.

“These schemes should also assist the retail and business sector, traders and the general population in adjacent streets, but the blast wall is an impediment to this work,” the MP declared.

Miss Ritchie added: “Given work to remove the blast wall has not yet commenced and we are in the final few weeks of summer, it is imperative it happens as a matter of urgency so as not to clash with the school traffic at the start of the new academic year. I have made urgent representations to the PSNI and Policing Board regarding this matter.”

Councillor Curran said given that officers and civilian staff moved out of the former police base over eight months ago, the blast wall should have been removed before now. He said it “beggars belief” no one in authority recognised the need for the blast wall to be removed over the summer months, despite being urged to do so by a number of politicians.

“We now have a situation when Irish Street will be closed when traffic in Downpatrick town centre is at its most busiest which will lead to chaos. I cannot understand the rationale for not having this blast wall removed sooner given that the base has been lying empty for so long,” added councillor Curran.

PSNI Inspector, Gillian West, described the decommissioning process of any police station as a “long and complex issue,” explaining each area of the process has to be carried out in different stages. 

“Since January of this year, ongoing work has been carried out at the former Downpatrick station to get it into a state of readiness for re-sale. Part of this process includes the removal of the front blast wall,” she continued.

“The demolition of the external wall of the station will be one of the last phases of work to be carried out. When this is due to commence, we will liaise with the local community, community representatives and partner agencies as we have been doing throughout this project, to advise them of any disruption, which we hope to keep to a minimum.”