A PUBLIC realm plan for the town of Dromcollogher is to be brought before councillors in the Newcastle West district in the coming weeks.
At their January meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Collins hit out that the West Limerick town had been neglected for a number of years, before calling on the Council to carry out an assessment.
Senior executive engineer for the Newcastle West area, Ben Noonan, told Council members at their February meeting that the local authority is now pursuing options and will bring a plan forward at their March meeting.
Cllr Collins asked where the Council hoped to source funding for the Dromcollogher public realm works. He was informed by Mr Noonan that they would look at all options, including the possibility of a request to the mayoral fund.
Cllr Tom Ruddle (FG) pushed the Council for a costing for the project but was told a proper design would first have to be done before talking numbers.
Fine Gael councillor Liam Galvin pointed out that public realm plans had been drawn up for the town square previously but were not acted upon.
“We had a lovely set of designs drawn up a couple of years ago. Maybe if they were brought forward and an application made to whatever department, and look, whatever decision is made we will not be satisfied with it, but the plans need to be brought back,” Cllr Galvin insisted.
According to Cllr Collins, the original public realm plans were considered with an aesthetic viewpoint, whereas now there is a more pressing public safety need.
“We’ll make the difficult decision when it is put in front of us,” he told the Council executive.
Cllr Ruddle wanted to know if speed cameras and other traffic calming measures could be put in place in the interim while the planning process runs its course. Mr Noonan assured him that traffic calming on the approach roads into Dromcollogher was something the Council would look going forward.
“It’s important to note that the Gardaí have a great role to play as well in terms of speed. As a local authority there’s only so much we can do, but the Gardaí can do a lot more in terms of management of speed,” he concluded.