Ballina councillors call for extra gritting in town centre for 'public safety' reasons
Cllr Seamus Weir said he believes more gritting could and should be done in Ballina town
There was disagreement at last week's meeting of Ballina Municipal District Council over the resources being allocated to the gritting of town centre car parks and footpaths in the event of another blast of Arctic weather.
Independent Cllr Mark Duffy and Cllr Seamus Weir expressed the view that the gritting of these public areas should be prioritised for the safety of the general public.
However, the Head of the Municipal District Declan Turnbull said there was a limited budget and the municipal council “had to cut their cloth accordingly" when identifying areas of the town for gritting. He said the budget allows for 5% of local roads to be gritted and the council has to be selective over the areas in the town centre that are treated.
Independent Cllr Weir said the winter plan does not cover enough of the town in his opinion.
“You talk about 5% of local roads, we could try and get up to 10%,” he added.
Cllr Duffy stressed that not every business person can adequately grit outside their premises and more could and should be done.
“From a public health point of view, it is something we could do,” he said. “I do not think it is unreasonable for the car parks and footpaths to be gritted and I do not know how we cannot get a consensus on that,” he added.
Cllr John O’Hara said he believed local people could support business owners by doing a little themselves.
The council's senior engineer Orla Bourke supported this suggestion, adding that it could make a real difference.
