Two disabled parking bays removed in Wexford town as council says it will find replacements in central location

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The loss of two disabled parking bays in the centre of Wexford town has led local councillors to suggest a number of alternative locations for those with accessibility issues. The parking spaces on Charlotte Street are to be permanently removed as part of Wexford County Council’s plans to pedestrianise the street save for a three-hour period in the morning when deliveries will be permitted.

And at the monthly meeting of the Wexford Borough District thoughts turned to replacing the lost spaces and ensuring any new bays were located close to the centre of town.

Noting that many of the existing spaces were situated on hills or raised ground, Councillor Raymond Shannon said that any new bays should be on flat ground

“Our other spaces are not that accessible, it’s very hard for a person to get out of a wheelchair on George St for example,” he said.

A suggestion from Cllr Biddy Walsh that some of the spaces at the car park beside The Crown on the Quay be used for disabled parking led Cllr Shannon to cite the “uneven surface” in that area as cause for concern, before outgoing mayor, Cllr Garry Laffan, said the primary goal had to be putting the spaces near the town centre.

“The Wellington St car park (McCauley’s) is fine, but it’s a bit too far away, the people using these bays have accessibility problems, and we want to get them as close to the centre of town as possible,” he said. “We have to find a solution as this is causing consternation.”

To that end, Cllr Robbie Staples questioned whether one of the handful of spaces across from Charred on Selskar St could be utilised for blue badge holders before district manager Anthony Bailey explained exactly why the spaces on Charlotte St were being removed.

“The disabled bays were put there during the pandemic,” he said. “That street will be open for delivery drivers from 8-11 a.m. but we can’t send vehicles down that road with the spaces there. We will look for other spaces.”

He was supported by area engineer Lar Lett who said it wasn’t feasible to keep the disabled bays there while Charlotte St was used for deliveries.