People left disappointed with grants available for local road improvements in Mayo

COUNCILLORS have been receiving lots of calls from people anxious to have roads improved since the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) funding was announced.

However, the reality is that each member in Mayo receives an allocation of just €27,000.

And the point was made by Councillor Sean Carey, at a Westport-Belmullet Municipal District meeting, that this amount will only do a third of a kilometre.

Councillor Gerry Coyle said a newspaper ad from the council gave people 'false hope' about getting works done on roads.

Up to the start of last week he had received 22 calls about LIS projects, but one road in his area in Belmullet was priced at €90,000.

"Maybe someone can do the loaves and the fishes on this," he suggested.

Councillor Coyle asked the council, if they are going to print about LIS, to state that each councillor has €27,000.

It was not working out for the councillors or the people who think they can get their roads done.

His Belmullet colleague Councillor Carey said he had received between 40 and 50 calls, noting how there were so many people disappointed.

The LIS funding was welcome but the €870,000 amounted to €27,000 for each councillor - enough for a third of a kilometre.

There should be special allocations from the department which deal with amenity roads.