Council need to grit outside national schools says davitt

“Members of the public shouldn’t have to grit the road outside national schools,” says Cllr Aidan Davitt.

The Fianna Fáil man told the Westmeath Examiner that he was “embarrassed” last Wednesday morning when he drove through Loughegar and saw a number of locals out gritting the road at the Crazy Corner, near Loughegar National School.The route is currently not included in the council’s gritting schedule.

“They were doing it to assist all the families bringing their children to the national school,” he said. “I was honestly embarrassed when I saw it. It is an exceptionally busy road with up to 400 or 500 school runs a day.

“It is a no-brainer that the Clonkill road be included in the gritting schedule as there is a large daily traffic volume and there’s a steep hill. It really beggars belief. I have raised the issue on a number of occasions and will be doing so again.

“The fact that people are willing to get out and grit the roads shows that thankfully there is a great community spirit in the Clonkill, Loughegar area, but they shouldn’t have to do it. I believe that the council gritted the road later in the day but it was too late.”

In a statement to the Westmeath Examiner, council official David Hogan said that the council’s “key aim” is to “keep major routes safe and as free as possible from hazardous road conditions”.

“The county has a schedule of priority routes which are gritted with salt each time it is deemed necessary to do so. These roads may need to be salted on a number of occasions on a night depending on the weather conditions. This schedule is based on the level of traffic and the strategic importance of each of the roads.
“Unfortunately, it is not possible to salt each and every road in the county and road users should be ever vigilant while driving in adverse conditions and not assume a road is salted. This schedule is advertised on the council website.”