Minutes 2022

Minutes of Meeting of Sligo-Drumcliff Municipal District held on Monday 14th March, 2022 at 10.00am in The Council Chamber, County Hall, Riverside, Sligo to consider The Schedule of Municipal District Works 2022


COUNCILLORS PRESENT:

  • Councillor Marie Casserly (Cathaoirleach)
  • Councillor Thomas Healy
  • Councillor Thomas Walsh
  • Councillor Dónal Gilroy

 

OFFICIALS IN ATTENDANCE:

  • Mr Jim Molloy, Director of Services
  • Mr Tom Brennan, Senior Engineer
  • Dorothy Clarke, Director of Services (virtually)
  • Marie Whelan, Head of Finance (virtually)
  • Emer Concannon, A/Director of Services
  • Declan Noone, Acting Senior Executive Engineer
  • Damien Henry, Executive Engineer
  • Conor McCann, Executive Engineer
  • Mary Farrell, Assistant Staff Officer

 

APOLOGIES/ABSENT:

Apologies were received from Councillor Fox.

 

CATHAOIRLEACH:

The Cathaoirleach, Councillor Casserly, welcomed all present to the meeting.

 

TO CONSIDER THE SCHEDULE OF MUNICIPAL DISTRICT WORKS 2022 – INCLUDING DRAFT ROADS, TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMME:

At the outset, Mr T Brennan proceeded to take Members through the proposed programme of works which had been circulated in advance of the meeting. The programme specified the allocation of funding received, together with a detailed breakdown of all planned expenditure for the year in relation to specific projects and categorised headings and outlined each individual category that related to the Municipal District.

He reported that a total of €31,894,723 had been allocated from TII, the Department of Transport, NTA and Sligo County Council for the improvement/maintenance of the public road network in County Sligo in 2022. 

He referred to an allocation of €10,000 for safety improvement scheme at Rathcormac.  With regard to the drainage grant 2022, the meeting was informed that instead of the works at Tormore, three additional areas were to be included, i.e. Rosses Upper, Gortaderry and Derrylehan.  He further stated that under the climate change adaption and resilience grant, works were proposed at 19 locations in this municipal district.  He also referred to local improvement schemes for which it was expected that a grant allocation would be made in 2022 from the Department of Rural and Community Affairs and community involvement schemes of which 16 were proposed for the county.  He also mentioned a number of bridges in this municipal district which were listed to be repaired under the 2022 Bridge Rehabilitation Works.

He referred to cycle safety signage of which Sligo County Council are currently erecting 50 around the county mostly on regional roads and the active travel programme which included funding for new footpath schemes at Grange, Rosses Point, Ballygawley to Castledargan, Ballisodare to Collooney and also on the R290 at the railway station.   

Regarding public lighting, he referred to a national retrofit scheme to replace remaining public lighting with energy efficient LED lights.  In relation to piers and harbours, he referred to the ‘Brexit Adjustment Local Authority Marine Infrastructure Scheme 2022-2023.  He also referred to the budget for burial ground maintenance in the 12 burial grounds in this municipal district and beach maintenance at Rosses Point, Mullaghmore and Streedagh.   

The members thanked Mr. T Brennan and his team for a comprehensive report and for works that had been carried out to date. Tribute was also paid to the outdoor Roads staff for their work throughout recent storms.

A discussion then took place on the draft Schedule of Works.

In reply to specific queries, Mr T Brennan and Ms E Concannon replied as follows:

 

Works at Cliffoney

A number of issues had been highlighted regarding Cliffoney, one was the road surface, and another was the pedestrian crossing in the village.  The Council are progressing with the erection of two bus shelters and funding has been allocated there.  Funding will be required from TII to address issues and there are solutions been looked at as regards access to the school.   

 

Cycle facilities from Grange into Sligo

The NTA are working on a cycling strategy for County Sligo.  It is hoped that Grange will be included in this strategy. 

 

Street cleaning

There is a budget for street cleaning but it is entirely for Sligo town and street cleaning in other villages around the county comes out of the Roads programme and was carried out by the Roads staff.  The street cleaning budget comes from the Council’s own resources and is not Department funded. 

 

Active travel

The Council are looking at an alternative route for a footpath from the railway station to Collooney though Parish Hall lands. 

Sligo County Council are not behind other councils on the active travel programme.

 

Ballisodare Pedestrian crossing

The Council are actively looking at this with TII with a view to resolving it.

 

Burial Grounds

Roads staff will have a look at the situation with the trees in Kilmacowen cemetery.

The payment to caretakers for registering of the graves has been reduced by €500 but the general maintenance budget for burial grounds in 2022 has increased.  There is a small increase of €8,000 approximately overall for the 57 cemeteries in the county of which 12 are in Sligo Drumcliffe MD.

 

CIS Scheme

There are 2 schemes in this MD. 

 

Clar Schemes

The Council will welcome applications for Clar funding for this MD. 

It was agreed that a meeting would be arranged with members of this MD, Ms K Kane in the Roads Department and Mr D Noone to discuss the Clar programme.  It is vital that schemes are ready when funding becomes available and that community groups are involved.

 

Speed limits at Grange

Outline plans have been drawn up for Grange for footpaths and cycle ways and have been presented to TII.  It will require considerable funding and the Council have been in contact with the NTA.  The plan will be presented to the members in due course.

 

Works at Mullaghmore/Innishmurray

An application has been made through the Brexit adjustment fund for pies and harbours at Mullaghmore and Innishmurray for €490,000 and it was noted that it was an item on the agenda for the next full Council meeting.

 

The Cathaoirleach, Councillor Casserly, thanked all for attending the meeting.

The business of the meeting concluded at 11.20 a.m.

 


Meeting Date 14/03/2022