€550k for north Cork road repairs

RESIDENTS TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS

THE NORTH Cork region is set to benefit to the tune of more than €550,000 under a scheme designed to fix rural roads - with financial assistance from local residents.

More than 20 schemes across the Kanturk, Mallow and Fermoy areas are set to be completed under the councils 2014 Community Involvement Scheme (CIS).

The money is part of a €43 million government stimulus package aimed at supplementing funding to cash strapped local authorities for essential road works.

A total of €6 million has been set aside across the country for the Community Involvement Scheme.

This will involve works on predominantly rural roads with ten or less houses and businesses along them.

In the past many of these have been overlooked in favour of allocating funding to busier secondary routes.

Under the CIS local authorities have identified roads they have deemed most in need of remedial works.

One-fifth of the total cost of the works is borne by residents and businesses along the road, with the remaining monies through the council from the government under the auspices of the CIS.

For example the council set a costing of €54,000 for remedial work on a 1,125 metre stretch of road at Condonstown North in the Fermoy area with eight dwellings on it.

Under the CIS, the householders will pay €10,800 or 20% of the total cost of the work through what is termed a “community monetary contribution” with the council picking up the tab for the remainder of the work.

County Mayor Cllr Noel O'Connor said the additional funding under the scheme was most welcome.

“There has been a lot of pressure on the maintenance budgets of local authorities to keep pace with the demands of repairing rural and tertiary roads. This has presented them with certain challenges that the funding allocated under this scheme will help tackle,” said Cllr O'Connor.

“In essence, the scheme allows improvements to take place on these roads without having to reduce money available to keep secondary roads in good condition,” he added.

Full details of the schemes in North Cork included under the Community Involvement Scheme are available at www.corkcoco.ie.