Council insists that every road closure across Kildare must be "essential"

Kildare County Council said it grants road closure orders ‘reluctantly’ due to the disruption they cause to the local community.

Cllr Mark Stafford told the March meeting of the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District that a road in the Southgreen area in Kildare town would be closed for several weeks. 

The public representative said that local road users have a long detour and "nearly have to go to Rathangan to get back into Kildare".

District engineer Brenda Cuddy said that developers or utility company usually apply for a road closure period to cover all possibilities.

She added that the road closure may be continuous or intermittent during the period advertised.

Ms Cuddy told councillors that all road closure requests are carefully considered by the council.

She added: “We don’t grant closures easily unless they are absolutely essential.”

Ms Cuddy also told the meeting that a road in Milltown may have to be put into private ownership in order for potholes to be fixed as it didn’t carry enough traffic to warrant funding.

Cllr Mark Stafford said the upper section of the L70063 route at Clongownagh/Milltown was in a serious state of disrepair.

Ms Cuddy said: “Due to the nature, traffic volume and size of the road it may be possible to include as a

Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) if locals are interested.”