People forced to use phones to walk along badly-lit pathway

A Co Tyrone walkway may be unsafe due to a lack of street lighting, a council committee has heard.

At an Environment and Regeneration Committee meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council, UUP Alderman Derek Hussey requested an update on plans for lighting to be installed along the river walk between the bridge and Castle Park in Castlederg as it was “in the interest of health and safety”.

DUP Alderman Keith Kerrigan, who chaired the council meeting, said he had also witnessed residents being put in unsafe situations due to the lack of lighting.

Alderman Kerrigan added: “At the Christmas light switch-on, I had parked at the church car park and walked across, and there were several young ones who were using mobile phones to try and walk across.

“There are often floods and it’s just not safe, so it is something we [need to] come back to again and keep on the agenda.”

A council officer said the issue had been discussed at meetings of the council’s Active Steering Group, but officers need to “pick that conversation up again and look at it in more detail.”

“It really pertains about the ownership of the wall and that strip of land,” the officer said.