Baylin
1 - September 2004:
‘That this Council extends the village speed limit signs at Baylin, Ballykeeran, Glasson, Tubberclair, Castledaly and Ballinahowen to the boundaries of the recently adopted village envelopes and also that it draws up a plan to provide 40 mph ( 64 kph ) speed limit signs on all local roads in the Athlone Electoral area in the interest of public safety’.
Reply:
The Department of the Environment , Heritage & Local Government has set a date for the 20th January 2005 to change all speed limit signs to metric. In this regard the Department has designated a 50 mph speed limit for all non-national roads.
2 - September 2004:
When will this Council provide more litter bins in it’s area?
Reply:
The Area Director requested that specific black spots be identified and forwarded to the Area Engineer for reassessment.
3 - November 2004:
‘ Do the Executive not feel that the Athlone Electoral Area should have it’s own full time procedures and methods in place to carry out verge cutting when required on all our National, Secondary, Regional & Local roads instead of waiting for the Mullingar Area to release their machines?
Reply:
This activity is coordinated by the Director of Transportation & Infrastructure and the matter will be taken up with him to ensure a satisfactory service to the Athlone area in 2005. If necessary the Athlone area will revert to a local contractor.
4 - March 2005:
When will the village speed limit signs be extended to the boundary of the village envelopes as raised before by me?
Reply:
This matter will receive consideration when the speed limits for the County are being examined in accordance with appropriate procedures to be set out in guidelines from the Department of the Environment Heritage & Local Government.
5 - May 2005:
‘ That this Council discuss the special speed limit guidelines recently released by the Minister with the objective of making our roads safer’.
Reply:
This Council has received guidelines from the Department regarding the preparation of byelaws in this regard. A report in the matter is expected to be placed before the Transportation & Infrastructure Strategic Policy committee at their next meeting on the 8th June 2005.
6 - July 2005:
That this Council discuss the need to have development levies collected in the Athlone Electoral Area ring fenced to be spent on projects in the Athlone Electoral Area.
Reply:
This matter will be considered by the full council at it’s next meeting based on report recently circulated to the members. There is no provision for ring fencing unless they are special levies for specific projects.
7 - September 2005:
When will this Council start the process of putting special speed limits in place at all our schools and also on our local and regional roads?
Reply:
The Roads Section has prepared a procedure for the implementation of special speed limit bye-laws. It is intended that Area Committee would now identify locations where it is considered a special speed limit should apply. All identified locations throughout the County will be referred to Road Design for consideration against the special speed limit implementation policy agreed by the members at the July meeting. This will be followed by a consultative process following which the adoption of the bye-laws is a reserved function of the County Council.
8 - January 2006:
That this Council present a proposed housing policy to it’s members for Baylin at our March 2006 meeting due to demand for housing in this area.
Reply:
The members have identified Baylin as an unserviced settlement area in the settlement strategy of the County Development Plan. The forward planning section is currently preparing a further policy statement on Baylin for the consideration of the members at the March Area committee meeting. Cllr. Keena welcomed this advancement in relation to Baylin and added that there was need to consider providing wastewater treatment in the area.
9 - March 2006:
What is the status of the proposed special speed limits submitted by the Area members last Autumn?
Reply:
The Area Office is completing a survey of the speed limit locations as required by the Speed Limits Implementation Policy adopted by the members. Area Office and Road Design will liaise in advance of finalizing the recommendations for the full Council.
10 - May 2006:
Further to the excellent work carried out by this Council in erecting signage in the Athlone electoral area, can this Council now consider a programme of work erecting directional signs at all junctions on our roads in the area?
Reply:
There is an ongoing programme of replacement of directional signs on our local roads in the Athlone Area.
11 - May 2006:
When will we have a report on the proposed special speed limits for the Athlone Area?
Reply:
The Area Engineers are finalizing the proposals for 2006. Each area has had to validate many proposals as a result of the proposals received from members. This validation involves the assessment of current speeds, review of accident history and inspections of the road environment at each location. As soon as all areas have submitted their validated proposals, Road Design will commence the statutory processes for these locations. This is a countywide exercise and thus delays from any one area may cause some delay to the finalisation of draft by-laws. This is necessary because any special speed limits are affected by such by-laws. During the policy formulation process it was considered that the publication of speed limit by-laws more that once a year would not be efficient. We are expecting that this process will be completed 3 to 4 months ahead of the schedule given in the policy document.
12 - September 2006:
That this Council extend the village speed limits to the boundaries of all the unserviced settlements in the Athlone Electoral Area in the interest of public safety.
Reply:
The member’s speed limit proposals are due to be considered at the Second September Meeting of the Council. This proposal will be referred to the Road Design Section for inclusion when speed limits are reviewed in 2007.
13 - July 2007:
What is the delay in erecting the special speed limits signs that were adopted by the Council about six months ago?
Reply:
Athlone Area Office received details of the agreed locations from road design and will arrange the erection of these signs asap. In response to Cllr. Keena it was confirmed that the operative speed limits are as approved in the respective areas but that they are ineffective pending the erection of appropriate signage.
3 - January 2008:
That this Council provide a pedestrian crossing in Baylin beside the school in the interest of public safety.
Reply:
No funding has been allocated in 2008 for a pedestrian crossing in Baylin.
