Council under fire over gritting exclusion

Clare County Council engineers have come under fire for the exclusion of key sections of regional roads in East Clare from Phase One of the local authority’s latest Winter Maintenance Programme.
Mayor of Clare, Councillor Pat Hayes and other East Clare councillors complained about the absence of parts of regional roads from Feakle to Scariff, Whitegate to Portumna and Killanena to Gort at a recent Killaloe Electoral Area meeting.
The issue was raised by Councillor Hayes, who asked the council for an update into what plans have been put in place by the area office concerning grit, salt and sandbags to ensure they are in place for immediate use in the case of emergencies.
Councillor Hayes claimed the current Winter Maintenance Programme published by the council was not approved by local councillors, despite a previous request for input into the preparation of this plan.
The Mayor of Clare stressed it was vital that sandbags, grit and salt should be made readily available as quickly as possible in the event of major flooding or freezing sub-zero weather conditions.
He recalled in recent years the council was not able to grit some regional and county roads when the weather got too bad.
Expressing concern about the exclusion of one kilometre of road at the end of Killanena and the regional road linking Feakle to Scariff from the maintenance programme, he pointed out this would inconvenience people who wanted to drive to Gort and the other two locations during inclement weather.
“Hopefully, the council will not have to implement its maintenance programme this winter. I don’t want to be ringing council engineers outside office hours because we have impassable roads in East Clare. 
Councillor Pat Burke recalled he had to ring engineers on a Sunday evening to make sure a local regional road was included in the gritting programme during freezing conditions.
The Fine Gael councillor expressed his disappointment the council had left out the regional road coming out of Whitegate as far as the county boundary with Galway and recalled Galway County Council had come across into the Clare boundary to treat this road in the past.
“I am concerned we could be giving motorists travelling 45 miles from Ennis to Portumna a ‘false sense of security’ if a section in the middle of this route is not being treated. I am going to get a lot of phone calls about this, it is very disappointing.
“Who makes the decision at 5pm on a Friday evening in the council’s headquarters in Ennis that a road is bad enough to warrant salt or grit?” he asked.
Senior executive engineer Hugh McGrath told councillors the East Clare area would comply with the countywide emergency plan.
Mr McGrath stated salt was stored centrally for use countywide and the council did have a reserve of sandbags in storage, as required. The council has also retained grit banks at strategic locations that can be replenished as required.
Having examined the plans, Mr McGrath recalled he had asked about the logic of not including some regional roads as far as the county boundary.
He explained there were four strands to the programme and it was felt a driver doesn’t necessarily see a boundary on a map when they were driving across counties and it made more sense to finish salting or gritting at the end of a speed limit zone in a town or village.
In cases of severe weather, he pointed out the council would go on to the second phase of their plan where sections of these regional roads were included. He stressed council engineers could use their own discretion to sanction gritting if a road in a built-up area of a housing estate was particularly bad.
He recalled in the past Galway County Council had gone over the Clare border with salt when it made sense to finish off the end of a load. However, under the new plan, motorists could be driving some distance before they met a stretch in South Galway being treated by Galway County Council after leaving Whitegate.
He also assured councillors he would liaise with the relevant Galway County Council engineer if he became aware their road workers were gritting the road right up to the Clare border so the Clare County Council could meet it in the event of adverse weather conditions.
“I am satisfied the council’s Winter Maintenance Programme is well thought out and I can see the logic behind it. The council can’t include all of its gritting in Phase One and has to stop somewhere,” he said.
Councillor Joe Cooney expressed disappointment that all the regional roads in East Clare were not included in Phase One of the maintenance programme.
Councillor Burke said it was up to ­Galway County Council to look after its own roads outside Portumna but felt Clare County Council shouldn’t leave about one mile untreated outside Whitegate.
Councillor Hayes admitted he couldn’t understand the logic of not doing a section of a regional road and stressed that roads in hilly areas had to be prioritised to ensure there was connectivity between county and regional routes.
The Mayor of Clare pointed out motorists were well capable of seeing signs such as “Welcome to Clare” or “Welcome to Galway” when it came to defining the extent of gritting on a regional road.
“The cost of treating another mile outside Whitegate or Killanena is not prohibitive. It doesn’t make sense leaving out the last mile,” he said.
Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald recalled he had seen trucks from Limerick City Council crossing over Athlunkard Bridge to treat roads in Shannon Banks and wondered if an accident happened on a regional road, which wasn’t gritted, who was to blame.
Councillor Hayes noted that even though the programme had been published on the council’s website, it wasn’t approved by councillors.
“I am not happy with this and I want this issue resolved at this meeting,” he said. Councillor Hayes proposed the roads from Killanena and Whitegate should be included while Councillor Cooney recommended the road from Feakle to Scariff should also be part of Phase One of the programme.
Mr McGrath pledged he would present the views of the meeting to the council.