Council contractors parking on cracked footpaths claims Laois councillor
Contractors working for Laois County Council could be further damaging broken footpaths in a Laois housing estate.
Some 27 of the council houses in O'Moore Place in Portlaoise are getting a deep energy retrofit, but heavy vehicles are parking up on footpaths that already need urgent repairs, says Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley.
Cllr Dwane Stanley tabled a motion to the February meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District, asking for footpath repairs.
"There is a section where you have vans and lorries parking on paths where the road is narrow enough. The deep retrofits are being rolled out, a lot of heavy vehicles are on the paths.
"They are really in a bad state of repair. The water ponds on them where they are sunken and cracked. This is badly needed, from the top to the bottom of the road. You have cars parking on the street because there isn't anywhere else," she said.
Laois County Council suggested that the repairs could be funded from her annual discretionary budget of €25,000, but Cllr Dwane Stanley said it will cost much more.
"I'd need to give my discretionary fund for ten years to do the paths in O'Moore Place. They have never been done in my lifetime as far as I'm aware," said Cllr Dwane Stanley who grew up in the estate.
She reminds the council that all of the Portlaoise MD councillors tabled a combined motion some months ago asking for the reinstatement of a ringfenced budget to keep footpaths in good repair.
"There used to be footpath funding through the years. If we had it on an annual rolling basis we could get paths covered," she said.
Director of Services Simon Walton said that the request was indeed sent to the Department of Transport from the council, to give a footpath restorative programme similar to one given for road repairs.
"There is €2 million set aside for roads in the Portlaoise area but nowhere near that for paths. I'll send a reminder but we haven't received a response yet," Mr Walton said.
Cllr Dwane Stanley also requests new litter bins and clearance of blocked gullies. She said that the bins in the estate are being filled with rubbish.
"There are four old fashioned litter bins, I am looking for them to be replaced by the ones you pull down. They are causing difficulty with rubbish. People are emptying them and putting the waste in their own bins," she said.