More funding needed to expand winter gritting says council’s Head of Roads

COUNCILLORS have been told they will have to provide more funding to expand winter gritting in Mayo.

Mayo County Council’s Head of Roads, Paul Dolan, told members of the council’s Roads & Transportation SPC that there isn’t sufficient funding to maintain the existing winter services plan, given that last year’s plan went over budget by €400,000.

The council exceeded its budget for national roads – which now includes the N5 dual carriageway – by €234,000.

The subject of winter gritting was debated for almost an hour at Mayo County Council’s December meeting, with several councillors calling for more gritting around schools and local roads.

However, any expansion of the winter services plan has been ruled out unless councillors provide more funding.

A total of €1.4 million was spent gritting roads in last year’s winter services plan, which had been allocated a budget of €904,000.

The council is to add an extra €150,000 to winter maintenance in next year’s budget to ‘break-even’ on their existing plan.

“There currently isn’t the money to deliver the current winter services plan, that’s the reality,” Paul Dolan told the Roads & Transportation SPC.

“In Mayo we grit 400 kilometres of national road, we grit 900 kilometres of regional and local roads, that is 1,350 kilometres. In Galway, they grit 623 kilometres. That’s the comparison here.”

Mr Dolan said that extra funding from the Department of Transport was ‘a once-off’ and that Transport Infrastructure Ireland had yet to fund the council’s excess expenditure on national roads.

“We cannot grit more roads, unless you members provide more money. Yee can talk all yee want about wanting to grit all these roads. Without money we can’t do it.”

Mr Dolan estimated that Mayo gritted ‘more roads than any other county in Ireland’.

“I agree, there are probably locations out there that would warrant gritting to be undertaken. I’d say there’s probably locations there where MD [municipal district] engineers should facilitate extra gritting in places in times of severe weather, without a doubt. But we cannot extend gritting runs at the moment,” he said.

The council has added extra locations to its gritting network, including at Cogaula near Westport where residents had complained about being unable to pass over a new bridge during frosty weather.

However, the addition of areas such as Church Road in Ballina was ruled out due to the lack of capacity in the area.

Mr Dolan said that capital investment in new gritters would also be required to significantly expand the gritting network.

Mayo County Council currently gritting 100 percent of national primary roads, 100 percent of secondary roads, 90 percent of regional roads and 5 percent of local roads.

A total of 21 gritting routes are served by over 60 staff.