UCC under fire over parking chaos at college

MUNSTER’S biggest third-level college was under fire last night for failing to tackle chronic parking problems at its sprawling city campus.

University College Cork was also criticised for driving ahead with massive building projects without providing adequate parking.

Work on UCC’s €60 million IT building on the former greyhound track on the Western Road, which will include dozens of lecture rooms, is ongoing. It will have a 150-space car park.

A planning decision is due within days on another major building on Mardyke Gardens.

But Cllr Colm Burke (FG) said college authorities have shown no real effort to deal with parking problems created by such large developments.

Residents in the College Road area are finding it increasingly difficult to find parking outside their own homes, he said.

“Some residents are arriving home at 8pm and they can’t get a parking space.”

The situation is going to worsen with student numbers expected to grow from 15,000 to 22,000 over the next five years, he warned.

Mr Burke also criticised senior city officials and planners for not doing enough to encourage UCC to tackle the problem. He questioned city manager, Joe Gavin, on the issue on Monday.

Mr Gavin said in the mid 1990s, UCC produced a major long-term development plan which included a traffic and access study, a parking strategy and a commuter mobility plan.

He said the college had made substantial progress including the appointment of a full-time commuter plan manager.

Parking charges have been introduced at campus car parks, park-and-ride facilities have been developed off Dennehy’s Cross and at Pouladuff and public transport is advertised on campus.

“We have to get away from the idea that every development needs parking. There are alternatives other than the car,” Mr Gavin said.

Mr Burke said these alternatives were not working.