Councillors unanimously approve amended Carrick-on-Suir Active Travel Scheme

Councillors have unanimously approved a planning application to upgrade cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in Carrick-on-Suir after agreement was reached to remove from the plan a raised platform at a road junction due to residents’ flooding fears. 

The provision of more public lighting at the north end of Carrick’s Town Park was also added to the Part 8 A planning application for the Active Travel Scheme for the area between Carrick Railway Station and the town centre. 

The planning application f received the green light at a special meeting of Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District on Wednesday, January 18. 

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The four councillors present at the meeting voted to approve the planning application after it was agreed to amend it to remove a proposal to install a raised platform at the Parkview/Cregg Road junction behind Town Park. 

Councillors and council management agreed to replace the raised platform in the planning application with a high friction road surface at the junction that will be painted in contrasting colours. 

The planning application originally came before Carrick MD’s December meeting for approval but a decision was deferred for a month.  The council had received submissions from residents living around the Park View/ Cregg Road area highlighting that their homes were flooded in the past and they feared a raised platform at this junction would add to that risk. 

The decision was deferred to see if a solution could be found to allay the residents' concerns. 

At last week’s special meeting, Carrick MD Director of Services Brian Beck said the council asked its engineers to look at the issue and they proposed installing extra gullies to minimise surface water that will flow to those houses and also proposed extending the footpath outside their homes.  He stressed the council couldn’t guarantee that these measures would eliminate the flooding risk in this area and that there wouldn’t be flooding in the future as it understood there was a ground water issue at that location. But  he believed the measures will improve the situation and at the very least won’t make it worse. 

Carrick-on-Suir Cllr Kieran Bourke   explained the floor levels in the residents’ homes were level with the road surface at the moment. 

“Their concern and fear is if a raised platform goes on the road it would be higher than the floor levels in their homes, which have flooded in the past. 

“I am very familiar with them. I know a lot of their problem is not surface water, it’s ground water but every time it rains they live in fear. If they get flooded they have no home insurance.” 

He said the council’s District Engineer Willie Corby spoke to the residents the night before the meeting and tried to reassure them and he (Cllr Bourke)  spoke with them that morning to reassure them that the measures proposed would be an extra defence but they were not confident. 

In view of this, he proposed the council remove the raised platform from the plans and replace it with a painted area at the junction.  He also proposed that the council add the extra gullies and extension of the footpath into the Active Travel Plan anyway to help alleviate the flooding problem.

It was also Cllr Bourke who proposed the inclusion of extra public lighting at the northern end of Carrick’s Town Park near the Library. 

He said there were no public lights in this section of the park. He  had been contacted by numerous people who walked there at night and felt very vulnerable and fearful when walking in this part of the park. 

Carrick MD Cathaoirleach Cllr David Dunne seconded Cllr Bourke’s proposed amendments. He said he too had received representations about the need for more lighting in the park while the inclusion of additional gullies will help as a lot of surface water comes down that hill. 

“I was there when those houses flooded and I understand the fear they are living with every time it rains. I appreciate all the work put into getting this sorted out.” 

 Willie Corby said the extra gullies and footpath extension wouldn’t be a significant extra cost and  indicated he wouldn’t have any objection to their inclusion in the planning application. The gullies would help the situation by catching surface water runoff coming down the hill. 

Council management agreed to Cllr Bourke’s  proposal to include extra public lighting for the park in the planning application with the proviso that it be a type of lighting that would have minimum impact on the park’s wildlife. 

The council will now submit the approved planning application to the National Transport Authority for funding approval.   The  scheme proposes improved pedestrian/cycling  infrastructure between Carrick Railway Station, Castle Park, St Nicholas Church Car Park, Presentation Primary School, Carrick Further Education & Training Centre and Sean Healy Library along with traffic calming measures, lighting, altered road markings and associated  works.