From the pages of the Down Recorder, November 30, 1994

From the pages of the Down Recorder, November 30, 1994

27 November 2024

DOWNPATRICK – Residents at a Downpatrick housing estate have pleaded with Department of Environment officials to take immediate steps to improve safety standards in Saul Street.

With the town’s urban sprawl extending towards Saul, residents at Rathkeltair Terrace area say the speed of cars heading into Downpatrick is getting “dangerously high”.

And they have this week urged senior Roads Service officials to provide ramps outside their homes, along with pedestrian crossings at the Rathkeltair Road junction and outside St Patrick’s Grammar School.

Residents have been campaigning for something to be done for the past three years and the South Down MP, Mr Eddie McGrady, has also raised the safety issue with Department of Environment chiefs.

RUC Traffic Branch officers are regular visitors to the Saul Road area and many people have been fined for breaking the 30mph limit, but residents want more action taken.

NEWCASTLE – A former Downpatrick man, who recently scaled the world-famous Mount Kilimanjaro, owes his love of mountain climbing to expeditions in the Mournes as a youngster.

Tony Halpin, who now lives in Stirling in Scotland, admits to being fascinated by the Mournes in his youth, but he little imagined when he was walking the local hills all those years ago that one day he would be standing at the highest point in the African continent – 19,340 feet above sea level.

Tony, whose sister, Denise Higgins, still lives in Downpatrick, undertook the mammoth climbing expedition in September, and it left him with an experience he will never forget.

“The ascent was the most satisfying expedition of my climbing life, yet in a way it was reminiscent of my first ascent of Slieve Bearnagh in the Mournes,” he says.

SEAFORDE – Down Council is braced to spend an extra £1m on its state-of-the-art landfill site at Drumnakelly, near Seaforde.

The extra financial burden has been earmarked for the next stage of development of the dump, despite the fact that use of the existing tipping ground is lasting longer than anticipated.

It now appears the council will be able to tip rubbish for another year before it has to open phase two, but the £1m will have to be spent within the next two years to cope with the district’s refuse.

A year ago, former councillor, Mr William Brown, claimed a confidential report into the dump warned it will only have a lifespan of 20 years, half what was originally claimed by the council.

Drumnakelly has been hailed as one of the most modern landfill sites of its kind in the United Kingdom and while councillors have been gagged from speaking to the press about it because legal proceedings are still pending, many are “genuinely concerned”.

Privately, some have said they do not want to see a heavier burden placed on ratepayers as the tip fills quicker than anticipated.

CROSSGAR – Senior Roads Service chiefs have been asked to provide additional lighting in Crossgar to prevent another major traffic accident, and improve safety standards for motorists and pedestrians.

The call comes a matter of days after seven people, including a young baby, were injured in an accident in the village involving two cars and a minibus.

It has been issued by the Rowallane area councillor, Mr Albert Colmer, who has called for a top level meeting between Department of Environment officials and RUC Traffic Branch officers to review safety measures in the village.

Last Saturday afternoon a young couple and their baby were sitting in their car waiting to turn into the Lissara Close estate when they were hit from behind by another car.

It is understood their car was shunted into the path of the minibus which was travelling in the opposite direction and the accident was so severe that the road had to be closed for three hours.

DOWNPATRICK – Demolition work  started at the weekend on three Downpatrick buildings severely damaged in a botched IRA mortar attack in August.

Workmen moved in to demolish the premises at St Patrick’s Avenue, which bore the brunt of the attack, carried out just days before the terror organisation announced its ceasefire.

Tom’s Wine Barrel and the adjoining wallpaper and paint shop, as well as Options boutique, had to be bulldozed so rebuilding can begin.

A nearby fast-food carry-out was also flattened, and part of the Avenue Bar, which managed to open a week after the attack, will also have to be pulled down.

It is believed that work on the public house will not begin until after the New Year.

Damage to the business premises was estimated to be around £1 million, with tens of thousands of pounds of stock damaged or destroyed.

HEALTH – Sixteen patients within the Down and Lisburn Trust area had to wait for more than a year for general surgery operations, new figures have revealed.

The statistics are contained in a detailed report made public on Monday by the Eastern Health Board, which plans to publish monthly bulletins on waiting times at hospitals across its area.

It says the new move, which will detail both inpatient and day cases, represents the Board’s “ongoing commitment” to reduce local waiting times in line with the Patients’ Charter.

Compared with other leading hospitals across the province, the caseload waiting to be dealt with at local level compares favourably. Across the Eastern Board’s area, the number of patients waiting for general surgery operations stands at 176.

CLOUGH – Plans by NIE to string a 30,000 volt cable between Clough and Newcastle is generating intense heat among local residents who want to see the power line located underground.

Last week, furious Down councillors condemned the plan, claiming it will ruin one of the district’s most scenic locations and they called for an urgent meeting with NIE and local planning officials.

A vigorous rearguard action is being fought by people in the area where NIE propose to string the cable across the countryside via a series of wooden poles.

On Monday afternoon, objectors and representatives from Friends of the Earth met NIE officials for a meeting in Newcastle and their concerns were noted and are to be delivered to senior officials with the power company in Belfast.

NEWCASTLE – A local hotel has won a prestigious tourism award for the facilities they provide for the disabled.

The Burrendale Hotel and Country Club came out as one of the top in the United Kingdom, winning one of the 1994 British Airways Tourism Awards.

The trophy is awarded to the establishment which provides the best facilities for the disabled.

The Hotel and Country Club is well equipped to cater for all disabled persons needs with specially designed rooms. Other facilities include chair lifts, hoists for the swimming pool and jacuzzi, elevator and a special ramp leading into the country club.

DOWNPATRICK – Nineteen major burglaries have been committed in the greater Downpatrick area in just eight weeks, leading to an RUC call for greater community partnership with the police.

The burglaries have been committed in the rural areas around Downpatrick, Ballynahinch, Saintfield and Crossgar and have involved the theft of goods valued from several hundred pounds to over £10,000.

It is believed the majority of burglaries are being committed by “professional” travelling criminals from the greater Belfast area, who visit different parts of Northern Ireland on different days of the week, netting rich pickings.

The RUC has launched a major appeal for assistance in cracking the travelling criminal problem and a senior police officer this week pointed out that the gangs are so slick it is virtually impossible to catch them red-handed without the help of the public.