Chestnut Grove, Gainstown and Newtown issues raised with council at Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad

The cost of upgrading the public lighting at Chestnut Drive is going to come to approximately €130,000, Cllr Ken Glynn was informed when he raised the issue at the June meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

At the meeting Cllr Glynn asked for an update on when the public lighting system at that location would be upgraded to LED.

In its response this council stated that the transportation section had advised that the current cost of an upgrade there was in the order of €130,000.

“A list of locations is being compiled, which includes Chestnut Drive, where further public lighting infrastructure works will need to be carried out and these will be put forward for consideration for funding in due course,” the written response to Cllr Glynn stated.

It added that the district will be upgrading some sections of the footpath in that area in 2025 and said that as part of that work the underground ducting and foundation sleeves for some new lights will be installed.

Cllr Hlynn was disappointed that the issue was not being resolved sooner, stating that the new lights were originally supposed to have been installed in 2021. He added that a light which went out of order in November and which was reported to the council in January, has still not been fixed.

There had, he said, been “a missed opportunity” to put in the ducting when the footpaths were being upgraded at that estate.

Gainstown footpath

A stretch of footpath at Gainstown is almost covered with overgrowth, Cllr Glynn told officials at the same meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad as he asked that remedial works be undertaken to reinstate the path.

While Cllr Glynn was happy that the response stated that the district will reinstate the footpath “in the next number of weeks”, he was disappointed to learn from engineer Pat Kavanagh that there were not plans to put a tarred surface on the path: “It's really just a cleanup from the temporary surface we put in there a number of years ago,” Mr Kavanagh said.

Cllr Glynn asked that the district consider putting in a tarred surface next year: “It is very slippy,” he stated.

Newtown

Cllr Glynn was also disappointed at the official written reply to his request that the district take measures to improve the sight distance for traffic turning right out of Newtown Lawns. “This is an ongoing safety concern for local residents,” he stated.

The response said however that the district had examined the junction, and determined that the sightlines comply with current design standards.

Cllr Glynn was surprised at this, stating that a similar request to his had been made by the PPN as part of its annual submission.

“We all can't be wrong,” he said.

Cllr Glynn went on to say that the opportunity to put measures in place would present itself as works are undertaken along the Newtown Road back in towards town. He said that the issue has been raised recently again by residents and he believed there was a clear case for action.

Responding, district engineer Pat Kavanagh insisted that the sight lines meet the standards.

“We've actually checked it,” he said, although he conceded that the traffic may be travelling a bit faster coming in from the Russellstown side.

Mr Kavanagh said that there is currently an application in for a change of design to a new development taking place on that road and said that as part of its permission, the council would be putting in conditions for traffic management which will have the effect of slowing the speed of traffic going towards Newtown Lawns.