Sticky Fingers Creche are concerned with the temporary closure of the road
Creche business concerns over temporary road closure
The upcoming temporary road closure of Hazelhatch Road in Newcastle for a proposed six-month period from mid-November has worried a local business owner, who claims that her creche was notified of the upcoming works very late.
Sticky Fingers Creche owner Sarah Gorevan has raised concerns about the effects of the lengthy pipelaying works on her businesses ability to operate.
Sticky Fingers is situated on Hazelhatch Road and caters for children from 12 months up to 12 years and runs a full day care service Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, as well as other services such as pick-ups and drop-offs throughout the day.
The upcoming roadworks are being carried out by GMC Utilities Ltd. on behalf of Uisce Éireann to install a watermain and, according to Gorevan, would cause great disruption to their ability to deliver these services to a high standard.
“We’re full day care, so we run from 7:30am in the morning to 6:30 in the evening and we run after school and [Early Childhood Care and Education].
“So, like, we drop and collect children to and from school – four schools in the area. And then we have our ECCE children coming in between 9:30 and 12:30, so there’s a lot of movement that has to be catered to, or for, while they’re doing the roadworks.”
Gorevan added that parents who drop off their children to Sticky Fingers will also have to deal with the disruptions, readjusting their schedules to ensure they don’t run behind.
She stressed the need for advance warning and a solid channel of information so that her business can tackle the upcoming changes to their routine as best as possible.
A concerned parent was how the creche became aware of the plans, just several days prior to the deadline for submissions or objections accepted by the local authority on the works.
Gorevan stated that the only official notification that Sticky Fingers received about the works was from a GMC official following the parent’s contact with the creche.
“He was saying that they’d be closing the road completely because of the way that the pipes need to go into the middle of the road or something.
So, I don’t know where that leaves us…we hope to be able to continue offering the services that we offer, but we have had no communication at all yet from South Dublin County Council about, you know, how that’s going to be facilitated.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
