Safety audit needed on Newtown road
A road safety audit needs to be carried out along the section of road between Saunders Bridge and Newtown before An Bord Pleanála makes a decision on a major new housing development in the area, according to a local councillor.
Steinfort Investment Fund wants to build a 130 unit housing development in Ballinerry, a project that was deemed a strategic housing development and will be decided by ABP.
Cllr Ken Glynn says that before the planning authority makes a decision, Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District should carry out a road safety audit. He says that if Steinfort's application is given the go-ahead “it will have a dramatic effect on this road and the existing estates which it currently serves”.
Speaking at the October meeting of MKMD, Cllr Glynn predicted that ABP will grant planning permission for the project. While new housing for Mullingar has to be welcomed, he said that local residents are “very concerned” that the traffic from the proposed estate will lead to road safety issues.
He said that he and his fellow councillors have a responsibility to express the views of the people they are paid to represent. People living in the Ballinderry area are “very concerned” about the impact of increased traffic on an already busy road, he said.
Responding to Cllr Glynn's motion on the issue, MKMD said:
“Any such requirements for audits are considered premature pending the outcome of the decision by An Bord Pleanála, as competent authority in this case, on the current Strategic Housing Development application which is pending.
“It must be noted however that in general, typical planning applications of this nature will, as part of the process, be required to demonstrate that they don’t pose any safety risk to the adjoining infrastructural network, including roads, footpaths, and cycleways etc. and that any matters arising pertaining to road safety by a development of this nature is integral to the overall assessment of the development by the competent authority.”
Earlier this year, Cllr Glynn and a number of other councillors said that the proposed development should not have any pedestrians links to neighbouring estates.