Mullingar West residents want ban on HGVs

Members of the Mullingar West Community Council have said that they will be asking Westmeath County Council to place a "five-axle" ban on the C-Link Road due to safety issues and noise pollution from the large amount of haulage traffic using the route.The proposal is that the council place a sign on the Delvin Road directing heavy goods vehicles past the Mullingar Park Hotel and back on to the N52.The proposal would mean that heavy goods vehicles will have approximately 1.2km extra to travel but totally by-pass Mullingar.The members which are made up of residents from estates across the west of the town including Ashefield, Ardliegh and Ardilaun said last week that they fear there will be a serious accident as HGVs travel at break-neck speed across the C-Link.'You can hear the brakes screeching at night as they hurtle down the road,' said Jacqui Killard from the Ardleigh Crescent Residents Group. 'This road should never have been allowed to be built through all these estates with only a wooden fence as a guard in case a car comes off the road.'If a car came off that road the fence wouldn"t be able to hold it and we would have no chance if a HGV went out of control. In January last year a car went out of control and went straight through the fence and into a house at Arleigh Vale. It was a miracle that no one was killed particularly because children were playing just beside the house.'Basically we feel as if all these estates at Mullingar West have been put up and then abandoned with a massive road running through them that was built by the developers.'Every single facility that we have, and those are few and far between, we have had to fight for them all,' she said.Members of the Mullingar West Community Council have also accused local politicians of abandoning them and have warned that they will be advising residents in the area to vote in the forthcoming elections, for whoever has helped their campaign.'The only politician who has done his work in this area is Ken Glynn who has always called with residents and makes a point of going around the houses in the estates at least once a month,' said Fergal Hingerty, from the community council.'We have two points to make at the moment; the first is that we want the five axle ban and the second is that we want our politicians to take action on our behalf.'We will be voting for those we see on the ground, working for us, its as simple as that,' he said