Two councillors fear someone will be killed due to lack of pedestrian access

SEVERAL members of Sligo County Council have issued warnings that there will be a fatality on the Old Galway Road at Knockbeg, Collooney, due to the lack of pedestrian access and public lighting there.

Cllr Thomas Walsh is one of a number of councillors to recently raise safety concerns for hundreds of people who use the road regularly when he called on Sligo County Council to address the lack of access and lighting.

Reacting to a written reply to his request for action he was told by the council that little could be done due to an “environmental issue”.

He clarified to members of the Sligo-Drumcliff Municipal District on Monday that the issue was in fact Giant Hogweed.

He said in the same area Sligo County Council had given planning permission for up to six housing developments which he feels beg the question, why would the council give permission despite the fact that there was this issue with Hogweed.

He said: “We are giving planning permission for extensive planning out this road, six developments, we are taking the development fees, yet our roads are in this state.”

He then warned: “There will be a fatality on this Knockbeg road, someone will die.”

He said they as a council had failed because they should not have given planning permission unless the need for the developers to tackle the Hogweed issue was addressed. “It is our own fault, we should have sorted this out as part of the planning conditions and dealt with the Giant Hogweed issue,” he said.

Cllr Thomas Healy said he agreed with Cllr Walsh that the response to the question raised was “very negative”.

He added that he had previously offered a solution by using the other side of the road to put in a footpath. He said he could not understand why his suggestion to use this as an alternative solution had not been considered.

He said: “I have raised that alternative on numerous occasions since 2017 and do not understand why this alternative has not been considered. Enough is enough.

“If a child is hit or killed on that road, any amount of money will be made available.

“It is only a very small section of road. There is a problem, but there is a solution. If we don’t take some action, something serious will happen,” he said,

The meeting agreed that a meeting with Council staff would take place to see what could be done.