Winter freeze will cause council problems

Money matters may result in icy footpaths this winter


Anton McNulty

THE priority of Mayo County Council this winter is to keep the major road ways across the county open and placing salt and grit on footpaths and urban centres will only be done when resources allow.
Mayo County Council’s winter service plan was discussed at last week’s meeting of Westport Town Council where the Town Manager Joe Beirne explained that resources may not allow footpaths in the town to be de-iced. He predicted that the budget for 2011 would be ‘dire’ and warned that a prolonged winter may have consequences for projects for the rest of the year.
“Next year’s budget is going to be dire and resources are going to be seriously curtailed across Mayo.
The priority is to keep the major arteries in Mayo open for business and priority three and four of the plan which deal with footpaths will only be dealt with where resources allow. Next year the money situation will pinch us all over the place and if we have a long winter there will be nothing for the summer,” he warned.
Iarla Moran, engineer with Mayo County Council who outlined the Winter Service Plan explained that last year they were called out 131 times to salt the roads when the average is around 47. He added that they had increased the amount of salt and storage areas in the county to counter the problem.
Cllr Myles Staunton said he understood the need to keep the main roads open but said the people of Westport could help themselves if salt and grit was available in the town.
“If salt and grit were placed strategically around the town then the people in estates could help themselves to them. It would be a big improvement on last year,” he said.
Cllr Ollie Gannon said there was a lack of communication between the councillors and the council last year and they were not able to give answers to questions from constituents. He said he did not want this situation to arise again and agreed that the people of Westport were prepared to ‘roll up their sleeves’ to spread salt and grit if given the opportunity.
Mr Beirne added that where resources allowed and if there was a prolonged spell of cold weather they would consider putting salt at junctions for people to collect.
He added that in most European countries people normally cleared ice outside their own premises but in Ireland this was still a legal issue and people did not do this because they were afraid of getting sued.
“A national study group looked into this legal issue and two issues arose, local roads and estates. Can local groups do the work and be covered for insurance and health and safety reasons.
This issue has not yet been resolved and the law needs to be clarified,” he said.
Mr Beirne also asked people who may have a home closed during the winter time to turn off the water because he said undetected leaking pipes put pressure on the water supply during cold spells.