Trinity College has turned its back on the Pearse Street side of its Dublin neighbourhood, and left parts of the area derelict, a local residents' group has told Dublin Corporation officials.
Last week, an ad hoc community group led by local householder Mr John Devlin met officials and elected representatives of the corporation to express their concerns. They argued that the college's expansion in recent decades has "has rendered large sections of our parish derelict" and that "private businesses have been driven out."
In addition, Mr Devlin claims that TCD's ownership of almost the entire south side of Pearse Street from Sandwith Street to the city centre has been detrimental to the area because the college has blocked up shops and turned its back on the surrounding neighbourhood. Pointing out that the last shop on this side of the street closed in September 2000, he also objects to large metal shutters on the windows of a residential block owned by the college and a pedestrian bridge crossing above Westland Row, insisting both further isolate TCD from the local community.
"Things have got steadily worse," Mr Devlin believes. "As Trinity has bought more sites, the footfall on the street has gone down and now people are afraid to walk there at night; it's like a ghost town."
Over the past 30 years, in order to meet the needs of a growing population of students and staff, the college has engaged in buying properties either within or close to its campus walls as these have come on the market. Plans are being prepared to develop a large site formerly owned by An Post on the corner of Pearse and Upper Sandwith Streets and currently serving as a surface car-park. Meanwhile within the existing campus at the junction of Westland Row and Pearse Street, the college is about to start work on a £90 million building project incorporating lecture and research facilities as well as a 10,000 square metre sports complex. The latter scheme will also feature what is described by TCD as "a major new college entrance."
However, the promise of a new entrance meets with scepticism from Mr Gerry O'Neill, who owns a pub and guesthouse on the north side of Pearse Street and says that in his experience TCD has shown no interest in providing access to its premises. According to Mr O'Neill the college's policy has "left a sour taste in my mouth. As far as I can see, Trinity has its own agenda and not just myself but the whole street has suffered as a result. I'm very cynical about anything they offer at this stage."
Mr O'Neill insists the local authority should also be held accountable for the decline of Pearse Street. "The Corporation knows this street, so how come it hasn't done anything until now and has continued to allow Trinity to do what it wants?" The corporation's area manager for the south-east of the city, Mr Michael Stubbs, accepts that the authority must now take its share of responsibility for the revival of Pearse Street, along with TCD and local residents.
Last month, representatives of the corporation met the college's director of buildings, Mr Tim Cooper, to discuss local concerns and Mr Stubbs says further discussions are planned. "I see the present situation as a glaring difficulty both in terms of proper urban planning and from the point of good neighbours. The intention is to come up with some kind of proposal whereby the community would be involved in a real consultative process."
Trinity also blames the corporation for some of the problems. Noting that to date, none of the college's planning applications have met with any objections, Mr Cooper insists the original decline of both the street and of nearby Westland Row dates from the 1970s when a city development plan marked many buildings in the vicinity for demolition as part of a road-widening programme. When this scheme was abandoned, says Mr Cooper, a lot of damage had already been done and the college had to undertake extensive restoration work on buildings it owned.
However, in recent years an already difficult situation has been made worse by the corporation's traffic management policy whereby the volume of public and private transport using Pearse Street has grown enormously. A statement issued by the college last week points out that heavy traffic has now rendered almost all the street's buildings "completely unsuitable for commercial uses" as well as giving rise to "major maintenance problems because of the staining and damage" caused by vehicle emissions. Noting that the college has earmarked the entire section of its campus along and behind Pearse Street for future development "as soon as funds permit," the statement adds that, in the meantime, TCD has formed a Pearse Street development planning committee comprising members of college staff and that of the local authority as well as "other representatives."
Mr Stubbs says that in future "in terms of any proposals from Trinity, these will have to go through the normal planning channels and it would be quite clear that the local community should form part of the non-statutory consultation process required in all large developments." Whether this approach will satisfy residents remains to be seen. According to Mr Devlin, with regard to opposing Trinity's plans, "we are in for the long haul."