Town centre work will pause over Christmas period

All works on the Mullingar Town Centre Street Enhancement will shut down for Christmas from December 1 to January 8, to facilitate Christmas shopping, members of Westmeath County Council were assured last week.

A moratorium on all street enhancement for the Christmas period was called for by Cllr Andrew Duncan, who asked that standing orders be suspended to deal with this urgent matter.

He indicated that numerous retailers were concerned that the works that are expected to go on longer than anticipated will damage their Christmas trade.

Cllr Una D’Arcy supported the call, but said that according to Retail Excellence Ireland, 80% of Christmas shopping is done in the last three weeks of November.

Cllr Bill Collentine said that retailers are finding it difficult and need all the support they can get. He demanded to know when and where the works would be done, a start and finish date for each area and the hours per day and days per week.

Cllrs Emily Wallace and Ken Glynn also supported the call, saying that the works will benefit the town hugely, but the interests of the traders must be safeguarded.

Martin Murray, senior executive with the council, announced that it is a condition of the contract that works can be suspended from December 1 to January 8.

Mr Murray indicated that the council will soon be in a position to announce specifics about when and where works will be done and he promised that there is a clause in the contract that prevents multiple areas being worked in.

As in Athlone, the council will liaise with the commercial sector on a weekly/fortnightly basis, he assured the members.