Fence move slammed

The resident - who asked not to be named - said the ercetion of the fencing was not a solution and warned it will merely shift the problem from the South Eastern end of Irish Street to the North Western end.

“It’s going to send the trouble back up our direction. We don’t want it. It was 1998. How many years? 13 years into the so-called ‘peace process.’

“This is a failure from the top level down. They are putting up fences. They should be taking them down,” he said.

Derry city councillors decided to approve the fencing around the Lisnagelvin Playing Fields after clashes between rival sectarian gangs at the interface last year prompted 24 separate police complaints alone.

According to the local authority it followed requests by “local residents that Council take action to prevent those participating in anti-social behaviour from accessing the Playing Fields at night as this activity was having a serious impact on the families living adjacent to the problem area.”

But last week the Community Relations Council (CRC) - a charity set up 20 years ago to promote better relations between Protestants and Catholics - joined the chorus condemning the decision to build what has been billed a 170 metre “peace fence.”

Now the concerned Top of the Hill resident has told the Sentinel he believes those wishing to cause trouble will merely re-focus their anti-community activity in the Anderson Crescent/Mountain View/Bann Drive/Irish Street/East Avenue area.

“The problem probably will come back down our way,” he said. “I don’t want the four o’clock in the mornings with boulders coming through my windows.”

He added: “Five years ago we managed to get enough people together from our streets and from Irish Street to have a presence on the ground.

“The vast majority of the times - nine times out of ten - it was people coming over from Gobnascale and riling the ones in Irish Street and then ones from there coming over and responding.”

He said the area has been relatively quiet lately but fears a resurgence once the fence is completed.

“This is back to square one. It’s not a solution. It’s by no means a solution,” he slammed.

Council officers said they were approached about an ongoing series of anti-social activities in the vicinity of Lisnagelvin Playing Fields by the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and the Top of the Hill Residents Group in December.

It subsequently emerged there were 24 separate reported incidents to police about the activity of rival sectarian gangs - often drunk and congregating in groups of up to 40 - in the vicinity of the Lisnagelvin Playing Fields, Irish Street Bowling Green, Gelvin Grange and Knockwellan Park last April - October alone.

The PSNI reported that “these mainly consisted of youths congregating in the area for ‘pre-arranged fights’ between rival factions or youths causing general annoyance in the area.”

Derry City Council’s Environmental Services Committee subsequently approved a new 170m palisade fence to the edge of the Gelvin Grange Road, a 1.8m high palisade fence along the Irish Street end of the Playing Fields and new gated access adjacent to Irish Street and Clondermott Park.