Council needs to be more "proactive" with hedge-cutting enforcement

Cllr Mary Bohan said that she felt in relation to hedge-cutting in rural areas, the council could be "more proactive in ensuring that hedges are cut and in cases where they're not, we would immediately deal with them."
A discussion took place at the recent meeting of Leitrim County Council in relation to hedge cutting as well as road works being undertaken such as Restoration Improvement Grants (RIGs) 
Cllr Bohan's remarks were echoed by many of her fellow members who said there are major issues with hedges obstructing roads in their areas. 

She said drivers "are coming out at bends because of the high hedges" and this could lead to an accident."
Terry McGovern, Senior Engineer, speaking to members about Leitrim's Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan, said that the number of people applying for the hedge cutting grant has increased in the last number of years. 
"We can't cut every hedge in the county but we do serve hedge cutting notices."

He said he also had received a number of queries in relation to hedge cutting and said he was aware of a road that "was actually closed" by hedges. 

Cllr Padraig Fallon questioned the effectiveness of serving hedge cutting notices saying that "one individual can hold everyone on the road to ransom."

He concluded: "We have to come up with a mechanism where it can be enforced because I don't believe the notices are enforced."

Mr McGovern said the council "possibly have to be more proactive when following up on hedge cutting notices that people are ignoring and will prioritise that going forward."

Cllr Paddy O'Rourke said the hedge cutting grant "is predominantly used by people who would be cutting their hedges anyway" and said the council was failing to "reach the heavy canopy of bushes that are sweeping down over roads" and suggested the council undertake a pilot scheme where they "take videos of before and after when proper hedge cutting is done with a saw."

Cathaoirleach Cllr Justin Warnock also asked if the council could put emergency funds aside for "cutting hedges of people who don't respond" saying that "a serious situation has developed in north Leitrim regarding a school bus - there are roads it will not go up" with Cllr Gerry Dolan also stating that there were major issues with overgrowth in his area. 
On the topic of roadworks, Cllr Bohan said there are areas where the road edge "drops" where the council are carrying out works such as RIGs and this issue also needed to be addressed.  
Mr McGovern said that when the council undertakes an RIG, "you are raising the level of the road but that should be catered for as part of the grant." 

He added that lay-bys have been installed "on very narrow roads" and that during works, the council tries to protect the edges of the road to ensure there is not a "sheer drop-off".

Cllr Fallon said that there were roadworks completed near him recently and there was "a drop-off of six or seven inches and a number of cars were getting damaged."