Mayo councillors to get greater say on roads spend after funding debacle
Mayo County Council’s roads strategic policy committee has debated a new draft policy for the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), with councillors told they will be “front and centre” in selecting schemes while also ensuring compliance with strict governmental criteria.
Head of Roads with Mayo county council, Conrad Harley, said the draft reflected councillors’ input - but stressed that the distribution of LIS funding must follow Department of Rural and Community Development guidelines.
“All applications will be checked for eligibility without delay,” he explained, adding that once allocations are announced, no new applications can be taken for that round. Late applications will instead go on a priority list for future consideration.
Councillors and council staff will work with engineers in each municipal district to prepare priority and secondary lists.
Applicants will then have two weeks to confirm their financial contribution, or the scheme will move to the next on the list.
Independent Councillor Richard Finn warned against sending any money back to the Department.
Last month it was confirmed that Mayo underspent €235,000 in LIS money last year, much to the annoyance of elected representatives.
“Every project has to be priced properly,” he said. “We can’t be in a position where 50 or 70 schemes are sitting there with no up-to-date costs. The books have to balance, and if money is sent back it should be infinitesimal.”
SPC cathaoirleach Annie May Reape pointed to the need for cooperation on larger projects, citing one Ballina scheme costing more than €70,000. “We agreed to get it done together,” she said.
Councillor Patsy O’Brien said no scheme would ever be perfect but argued for flexibility:
“If the locals are in agreement, part of a road should be done. Half roads are being done on public roads already.”
Fianna Fáil’s Damian Ryan insisted the priority must be delivering full spend.
“We have to have regulations and conditions, but we can’t make it too restrictive or onerous. Progress is being made but he warned that “no money will be sent back under LIS.”
Conrad Harley cautioned that part-completion of roads could create problems.
“If there are five houses down the road and only the first half is done, the fifth person can rightly be aggrieved. We also may struggle to get contributions for the second half.”
He confirmed that older schemes more than four years on the list will now be removed, keeping applications up to date, but that it will take time to process and inform those whose names will be removed.
The draft policy will now be circulated to fellow councillor who are not part of the SPC for two weeks. If no submissions are received, it will be deemed adopted.