Call for Kenneth Street Co-op solution​

Community Council Secretary Mike Macleod said: “When Kenneth Street was laid out many years ago, horses and carts were standard business equipment and articulated lorries had not even been invented. The street is narrow, and the pavements even more so.

“Nevertheless DFDS uses heavy articulated lorries, quite unsuited to this environment, followed by a noisy fork-lift truck.

"Residents and businesses complain of noise, vibration, and that DFDS drivers, doubtless unintentionally, give the impression of treating that part of Kenneth Street to the rear of the Co-op as if it were their own private property.

"Meanwhile drivers are frustrated when they end up stuck behind a DFDS lorry blocking Kenneth Street.”

The Community Council had earlier written to DFDS suggesting they use a smaller vehicle for Kenneth Street, but has had no reply.

They said they recognise “there have to be regular deliveries, including chilled and frozen food, for the small Co-op to continue to offer a wide variety of groceries at the convenient location of Cromwell Street, which is so greatly appreciated by the community”.

The proposal to use a smaller lorry was, they said, “a positive suggestion”. “The Co-op have a large number of delivery vans, which presumably are refrigerated, to deliver across the island,” they said. “ Why not have DFDS decant their large lorries at the Macaulay Road Co-op Superstore? Then Co-op staff can transfer the relatively small quantities of groceries needed for the small Co-op into a van, which will be able to make delivery without disrupting Kenneth Street.”

The Community Council have the option of petitioning for a restrictive Road Traffic Order but do “not want to go down this route”.

Mr Macleod stated: “We are happy to meet with the Co-op to discuss the practicality of our proposal. We very much hope that if the essential deliveries to the small Co-op can be made in a way which is community-friendly, then everybody will win.”