Tag Archives: blakes

FOUR houses and business premises could be knocked in the latest attempt to address Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon, one of the county’s worst bottlenecks. One couple, due to move into their first family home this week, has organised a meeting seeking public support in what they predict will be a major battle with Clare County Council and the National Roads Authority. Sheena Clancy, her husband, John and their four-year-old son, Jamie, are “devastated” after finding out they could lose the house they have spent the past seven months renovating and which they plan to move into this Friday. Sheena rented the property at Bridge Street for three years before the couple bought the building at auction last May, to renovate as their family home. Now, the family has discovered that the building is likely to be the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) because it is in the path of a proposed new road. Sheena and John were paying …

A report on one of the county’s most controversial traffic blackspots has recommended the construction of a new relief road and bridge. Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon has been the scene of traffic chaos for several months each year as hundreds of thousands of people make their way to the Cliffs of Moher. In recent years the corner has been the subject of much controversy with local representatives calling for the demolition of the well-known Blake’s and Linnane’s buildings while local heritage activists have called for their retention. Many North Clare councillors have, for the past decade, requested that Clare County Council knock the buildings arguing that the nature of the busy junction would lead to the death of a pedestrian. A group called Save Ennistymon’s Heritage campaigned for the buildings to be retained claiming they were important to the town’s visual amenity and heritage. It now appears that an inner relief road will be constructed in the village cutting out …