Residents ‘ignored’ by National Trust
Thursday, 19 June 2008
RESIDENTS living close to the Giant's Causeway have claimed the National Trust ignored suggestions aimed at addressing chronic congestion caused by visitors to Northern Ireland's number one tourist attraction.
Last week the National Trust took a major step towards replacing visitor facilities at the Giant's Causeway, eight years after the original buildings were destroyed by fire.
However, while welcoming the announcement, the Giant's Causeway Community Association has said the proposal failed to solve traffic problems which on occasions led to hour long delays.
“We have grave concerns regarding some aspects of the proposal and we will be voicing these concerns to the relavent departments and representatives in the near future," said a spokesperson.
She said the Trust had not adequately consulted neighbouring residents and failed to take account of their ideas.
The community believes present management structures and operating procedures in the car park are unsatisfactory.
“These failures have directly led to severe congestion on the Causeway Road over the last number of years with residents and visitors alike sitting in traffic for up to an hour to travel half a mile.
“The proposed plan effectively ignores the residents and their efforts to help with the process in an effective manner."
The residents say a park and ride system will not allviate congestion
“We want these visitors to have a world class experience not spend their time sitting in their cars.
