Class 3 roads in ‘crisis’ state

The road network in Sligo is at crisis point and must be addressed.

Councillor Paul Taylor and Councillor Martin Baker tabled a joint motion calling for a special meeting to discuss the state of the Local Road network due to lack of funding, low staff numbers and flooding.

While they welcomed the recent road funding announcement for the Western Distributor Road and the Eastern Garavogue Bridge, they said the county roads were in “a deplorable state.”

“We have not got the staff levels to go out and treat the roads to take the water off them before the bad weather comes,” said Cllr Taylor.

“To make any headway it’s a minimum of twelve staff they need in the Ballymote area,” he told members.

“It’s not good enough for 750km of road. We need ¤12.5-13m and that’s just to start. That’s a minimum level. People are wondering why we’re not doing anything,” he said.

“People are told have a decent car under you, do your NCT etc but you couldn’t have a good car with the state of these roads. We’re at demoralising levels. It’s through no fault of the staff - they’re getting it in the next as well. The public cannot understand what’s going on. If something is broken, you fix it. It’s time to address it once and for all,” he said.

Cllr Baker said he had never seen so many people angry about the roads.

Councillor Keith Henry asked for a table to be produced showing the amount of roads funding spent in each engineering area for 2017 and 2016 categorised by road type.

Councillor Michael Clarke called on the Council to apply for a special allocation of funding for drainage on road.

They were supported by Cllrs Jerry Lundy, Margaret Gormley and Joe Queenan.

Cllr Hubert Keaney asked how many notifications were sent out to farmers about ensuring that no water from their property flowed out onto public roads.

Senior Engineer Tom Brennan said that road funding allocated to Sligo County Council dropped from a high of ¤14m in 2008 to less than ¤8m. He said there was a 24 per cent increase in funding for rural roads this year but it was “coming from a very low base.”

He said the Council advertised recently for General Operatives positions and the cold wet weather we’re having lately is “particularly severe on roads.”

Councillors agreed to send a deputation to meet Minister Shane Ross about the roads.