Newport pedestrian crossings could be back on agenda

KEEPING THE PRESSURE ON Cllr Brendan Mulroy (pictured) and Cllr Michael Holmes are continuing to push for a pedestrian crossing in Newport. 

Neill O’Neill

Hopes for a pedestrian crossing in Newport have been rekindled, as the town is set to be resurveyed.  
A State agency previously conducted a survey that concluded that there was not enough pedestrian or vehicular traffic in Newport to justify a pedestrian crossing in the town. However, after fierce political pressure was heaped on them by councillors in the West Mayo Municipal District, it has agreed to retake the survey.
The issue first arose during the May Monthly meeting of the district on Clare Island, and it was raised again at the June meeting, with Cathaoirleach Brendan Mulroy suggesting that the July meeting be held in Newport, where councillors could judge for themselves whether the crossings were needed.
Cllr Michael Holmes had raised the issue in May. He said that he had been informed that Newport did not meet the criteria for funding for the long-sought pedestrian crossings to be provided. The councillor rubbished this, pointing out that the survey had been carried out in November, ‘the quietest month of the year’. It was a completely different picture in Newport during the summer, he said.
Cllr Holmes was backed on this argument by Cllr Mulroy last month, and the Municipal Area meeting in Newport will take place on Monday, July 25, in the town. The venue has yet to be confirmed.
Ahead of that meeting, it has now emerged that the survey will be retaken, with Cllr Mulroy calling for it to happen in the summer period, not at an off peak time.
Area Manager of the West Mayo Municipal District Padraig Walsh previously informed councillors that the agency to which the submission for funding had been made had come back to the council, stating that the required criteria has not been met in Newport. Mr Walsh clarified that this criteria related to the level of traffic and pedestrian activity and accident history in the town.
“Fortunately there have been no accidents, and that fact is now working against the town,” Cllr Holmes said at the time.