Road traffic safety around schools 'is a key issue' in Mayo
Cllr Peter Flynn said Active Travel projects were not being delivered quickly enough.
Safety around schools is the single biggest issue after housing now facing Mayo County Council, according to a local councillor.
Westport-based Cllr Peter Flynn was speaking at last week's meeting of the local authority where he welcomed an acknowledgment by council management that Active Travel projects have been lagging behind for some time.
“It is good progress has been recognised as being slow. Safety around schools is a key issue in our county while people living on the outskirts of towns also can’t walk into town safely with the speed people are driving.”
Cllr Flynn said there had been "frustrating delays" in delivering Active Travel schemes for Murrisk, Holy Trinity and Brackloon national schools over the last four years, and he also criticised the fact that the Active Travel scheme at Deerpark NS on the Newport Road in Westport will take up to four years to complete.
“The message needs to go back to the National Transport Authority that the need for consultants at each phase must be eliminated. We must trust in our own people and allow procurement go ahead. Having two to three consultants involved in a small project makes no sense and I have seen this on some projects that are only a small stretch of footpath.”
Cllr Donna Sheridan agreed it was frustrating that projects went on for years after funding was announced, alluding to delays in the scheme promised for Rathbawn Road in Castlebar and pointing out that a lot of time and energy was needed to bring the Balla Active Travel project to fruition. She said there "does not seem to be any joined up thinking" between the Department and Transport Infrastructure Ireland on Active Travel.
"We also over 60 submissions to extend the footpath further out the Westport Road [in Castlebar] yet it was not included on the programme and people feel they are not being listened to.”
Cllr Michael Loftus acknowledged the good work of staff in the council office in Ballina but said, unlike in Castlebar, there were no “tabletops to slow traffic down at pedestrian crossings” and one crossing had to be raised due to a fatality.
Cllr Damien Ryan welcomed safety works around Cong National School and supported the call for council staff to take charge of projects, saying: “We need to dismantle the whole issue of consultants and see what we can do ourselves inhouse.”
He commented that schemes to date were concentrated on areas of population with villages being left behind and requested that separate urban and rural lists be drawn up so that the two were not competing, a view supported by Cllr Patsy O'Brien.
Cllr Michael Burke said "great work" had been done around the county on Active Travel projects, referring to a walkway in Ballinrobe that has been a big success.
“People really enjoy that walkway and it is safe any time of the day or night.”
Cllr Annie May Reape welcomed a lot of work done on Active Travel along the Quay in Ballina, with Cllr John O’Hara agreeing “it is a super job".
Director of Services David Mellett said the council currently has 51 projects on the Safe Routes to School Programme and supported the idea to split village and urban projects for more formal funding streams.
