Gritting of rural Leitrim school roads not covered by winter maintenance plan

A call was made during a meeting of Manorhamilton Municipal District to ensure that routes to schools in the area have their roads gritted.

Cllr Pádraig Fallon asked that “every effort is made” to ensure that the roads to schools are salted or gritted. “Historically on an annual basis, issues arise around in particular rural schools,” his motion stated.

Cllr Fallon noted that staff from the Council make an effort to grit the roads and acknowledged that they are the ones out in hazardous conditions to treat them. However, he asked that the Council remain cognisant of the rural schools.

“I ask that we be cognisant of the rural schools as in this municipal district we have a lot of them,” he said.

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A response from the Roads Department noted that there are over 2,300 km of roads in the county, and only a portion of the road network can be included in the Winter Maintenance Plan due to available resources.

Priority 1 roads in the plan cover national roads, while Priority 2 covers regional roads; together, they account for approximately 500 km of roads being treated. 

Priority 3 consists of other country roads, which may receive intermittent treatment during severe weather events but are not part of the Winter Maintenance Plan.

“Leitrim County Council can supply any company, institution, or school with a salt bin and a primary fill of salt for a nominal fee,” the response concluded.

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