Anomalies in local roads funding and take over process in Mayo

ANOMALIES on local roads in terms of funding, taking in charge and planning permission needs to be addressed.

The situations people are finding themselves in were highlighted by Councillor Michael Smyth at a municipal meeting who said he has a long list of roads in the Swinford area for taking in charge but there are anomalies in the system.

Under the current Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) you cannot get a road improved unless there are two farmers on the road, which sets aside certain roads.

There are roads where there are several houses, granted planning, but they don't qualify for LIS and cannot be upgraded under that scheme and then subsequently taken in charge.

When someone applies for planning permission on a road that has not been taken in charge by the council, the policy is that they will not be considered for planning.

A road has to be a certain standard before being taken in charge, he continued. The difficulty is that it doesn't meet the criteria under LIS, and therefore cannot get into the system.

The legislation needs to be amended, he said.

If planning has been granted for more than two houses since 1963 and a road doesn't qualify under LIS, residents should be able to apply to the council for their road to be taken in charge on the basis of those planning permissions having been granted.

He knew of three or four roads with five or six houses on each and they are still not taken in charge as they can't get into the system, not qualifying for LIS.

Councillor Smyth asked that the matter be referred back to the roads strategic policy committee to come up with a system whereby these roads can be considered.

Head of roads Paul Dolan clarified that members can spend notice of motion monies on private roads to bring them up to standard for taking in charge.

However, taking in charge leads to issues from a maintenance point of view. Funding is not being provided for maintenance.

He would prefer to see the notice of motion spend going on maintaining what they have.