No work on Blake’s Corner ‘until 2015’

Work on Blake’s Corner will not go ahead until 2015 at the earliest, according to a North Clare councillor.
Councillor Richard Nagle made the comment after the council said no pedestrian crossing would be provided at the bridge in Ennistymon until the issue at the corner was resolved.

The Fianna Fáil councillor, who lives on the Lahinch Road in Ennistymon, had asked Clare County Council to include pedestrian crossings at the Square and the bridge, Ennistymon during 2013.

Funding was announced recently for a pedestrian crossing in the Square and the local authority said work on this would begin later in the year “after we have designed the scheme and we have gone through the requirements for public consultation,” but it said “the provision of a pedestrian crossing at the bridge is premature, pending a resolution of the issue at Blake’s Corner.”

“We are now back in limbo, as we have been for the last several years,” Councillor Nagle stated.

“We all know if everyone is realistic and tells the truth that we won’t have a solution to Blake’s Corner until 2015,” he said.

Councillor Nagle asked the council to contact the NRA and ask for a representative to come to Ennistymon and see the foot traffic on the bridge. He asked that the letter would also include “health and safety concerns”.

“At this stage, it is an outrage, we are being treated like fools,” he said.

Councillor Bill Slattery of Fine Gael asked for alternative traffic management plans to be introduced at the corner to alleviate some of the problems.

“Truck drivers going to Data Display cannot come around that corner and have to come at 4am,” he said, noting that the company is a large employer in the town. He asked that the steps in front of the Blake’s and Linnane’s buildings be backfilled.

“Which comes first, heritage or safety? Someone will be killed there,” Councillor Slattery stated.

Senior executive engineer in the area, Stephen Lahiffe, told Councillor Slattery that various alternative traffic management options had been proposed and implemented at the controversial corner in the past but had not worked. He also pointed out that An Bord Pleanála decided that an Environmental Impact Statement is required before Clare County Council can carry out any work at Blake’s Corner.

Mr Lahiffe added that he had addressed the issue of backfilling the steps in the past and it would not be possible. He said while he didn’t have all the details at that moment, he said he believed the problem related to surface water.

“A load of gravel backfill wouldn’t do any damage to the heritage,” Councillor Joe Arkins stated.

Mr Lahiffe said, “there are things you can do but everything you do has a reaction”.

Councillor Nagle said he did not accept that surface water would be a problem. “The Inagh River is within 10 yards of it. Surely there is a way to pump the surface water into it,” he said.

Councillor Nagle asked “for an interim measure that would not cost a fortune and would make a huge difference for people who have to cross the bridge”.

The council will now write to the NRA asking a representative to come to Ennistymon and examine what can be done at the junction.