Open drain in Ballymore a concern for local councillor
An open drain close to the childcare centre in Ballymore is causing concern for Cllr Vinny McCormack.
Speaking at the July meeting of Westmeath County Council, he said the drain was put in more than 30 years ago when the houses at Market Hill were built, and the council have not done anything with it in 15 years. He urged that it be piped and covered.
He was told the district engineer was to look at the site and it would be “followed up”.
At the same meeting, Cllr McCormack said the septic tank grants are “the most difficult thing to deal with”. He suggested that applications are “just put in the pot and selected at random to be inspected”, and asked how quickly urgent applications were being processed.
The council chief executive, Barry Kehoe, explained that the scheme is run in accordance with the guidelines. The council have to carry out random inspections in areas that are identified as being at risk, they do not have the prerogative to select particular properties to inspect, he stated. The scheme is under review and, hopefully, it will be amended to address the difficulties that are nationwide, he added.
Cllr McCormack claimed that recent good weather has affected roads, particularly the Moate to Ballymore road where he said “the dips have become horrendous”. The bog road at Ballinalig is “highly dangerous at the moment” because it has dried out so much and dips have formed on it, he added.
Mr Kehoe agreed that roads suffered because of the good weather. He assured the members that the council would “push as hard as we can” for more money to address this problem and to compensate them for the inflation in the cost of bitumen.
Cllr McCormack also called for an update on the €50,000 road safe improvement works planned for Rathowen. He was told that €27,000 was spent there last year and the €50,000 works for this year have yet to start. Cllr McCormack was assured that the matter would be referred to the transport department and he would be updated.